Fire Emblem: Order and Chaos
by pureshadow013
Summary: Why did this have to happen? I died, which I don't even remember happening, and now I'm stuck in Ylisse. I haven't even played this game in years! (hopefully) better than the summary. SYOC closed!
1. rebith and cracking of the 4th wall

**Hello, you can call me shade. I have been planning to start writing for a while now. Please feel free to criticize my work but please take it easy as this is my first story. The update will probably be slow while school is still in session, but I will try to write as often as possible.**

**disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own ocs, otherwise the games would all sound like bad fanfiction**

White, that's all I can 's nothing to hear and no smell floating around. I don't even have enough feeling to turn my head or check to see if I still have a body. This state can be nothing other than death.

But if that's the case, then how did I die? I remember everything up until about a day ago. I walked out of my dorm, greeted my friends, and went to all my classes, but then what? Everything's a blur, raging like a storm through my mind. My thoughts are suddenly stopped short as my surroundings begin to shift and fade into existence.

I find myself lying in a beautiful clearing, the sky is clearer than I've ever seen before, there is a very pleasant breeze blowing and the air is crowded with the scents of a garden growing nearby. I move my arms, then proceed to reassure myself that yes, my body _is _fully intact.

Finally regaining my composure, I wonder to myself aloud "is this… Heaven?"

"Not quite," came a voice from behind me, shattering my reverie, "although your time on Earth is over, your life is not finished."

"Who…" I turned around to see a lustrous woman with green hair "Naga? but how? There is no way you can be real!"

"Oh, you really thought ylisse was merely part of a game?" the woman gave a knowing smirk, "You'd think someone who reads so much fanfiction would be a little more open-minded." she teased.

"Just get to telling me of the quest or journey or whatever the HELL you plan on doing with me!" I shouted angrily

"It seems you have a backbone," Nage smiled "you are becoming more and more interesting by the minute."

My patience ended there "What. did. _I._JUST.**SAY?**" I screamed furiously.

"Okay, okay," she said frantically, fear now showing in her eyes "Grima has brought in a new force of soldiers hailing from **your** home world," she shivered a bit, then continued "they are small in number, but immense in power. With you added in, we have twice as many of my emissaries as he does, and I'm still unsure of your chances of success."

My eyes went wide with horror " how can they be that strong? Shouldn't we be equal in power?"

"Think about it, in the game, did Chrom defeat Robin alone, could he kill Robin by himself. No, my power is not as strong as Grima's"

Now filled with resolve, I spoke calmly "Then give me the strength to fight," I held out my hand "I will become your blade."

Naga smiled at me " okay, but this will change you forever, and there is a chance the procedure alone may kill you" .

"Well I've already died once, I doubt you could kill me again." I stated firmly with a defiant look.

She grabbed my hand, and instantly I felt a white hot surge of pain throughout my body. My muscles screamed and my bones cracked. It felt as if my entire body was being smelted and refined like a blacksmith would do to a sword. The pain was unbearable, but I refused to let out a scream and show my weakness. No matter what happened I would hold on.

The pain settled, and Naga once again spoke to me "You didn't scream through the entire process, you are the first individual to hold out for that," she smirked I must say, I'm impressed. I guess you wish to see how you've manifested your new power" she handed me a mirror.

The scar I once had on my face was now gone, and my skin had paled considerably. My hair, once brown, was now black as the night, and had lengthened to hang just above my eyes, which were now a bright yellow color. My old hoodie was now a black cloak that was tattered at the bottom and reinforced by several thin pieces of leather mail.

_Youkai- A well rounded class which greatly resembles a tactician, albeit with a few differences in fighting style and skill set. People of this title once had power that caused others to regard them as demons. Known for the ability to strategize in a pinch and completely kick ass. Uses swords and tomes_

Wut. Am I going crazy or did some disembodied voice just explain my abilities to me? Naga must have caught my confusion because she began to speak .

"That is your shadow, the manifestation of your new power, displaying itself as a voice within you.

"So sort of like awa-"

"No! as I was saying, What it says changes from person to person, yours has a tactical knowledge, and will save you on multiple occasions."

"So again it's sort of like awak-"

"Just shut up and let me finish!",Naga spurted angrily, "As, I was saying, the reason you have a class that wasn't in the game is because of your power. Think of this power as a contract between us, if either side does not comply, then it won't manifest or the client's body may reject this power. As your body adjusts, it shifts to the ideal way for you to use your new potential. This causes your abilities, appearance, and well, anything to for your equipment." she clapped twice.

And as if things had not ALREADY gone off the deep end, Hubba appeared holding a rapier and a Flux tome. He handed me the rapier "This is Yamikiri-no-tsurugi, it is an indestructible blade like Falchion, it will save you several times during your journey."

I look the blade over carefully, the hilt was made of sparkling obsidian, and the blade was darker than anything I had ever seen while the middle was a bright crimson. _Pretty malevolent for something called the " blade that cuts the darkness", but I guess we'll take it, eh? _Shut up and admire the awesome sword, me. _ You're no fun to argue with_. Well, I'm you so…

"Ahem," came old Hubba, "here's a tome of dark magic, as you never had magic in your home, I guess I should explain to you…" Hubba gave me a short lecture on the usage and mechanics of so that's how it worked _nothing like the game, eh?_

Now Naga is speaking again "That should be enough preparation, there is only one thing left to do." The air crackled with magical fire, spelling out archaic letters which I somehow understood **Kira Aurum**

"From this day forth, this will be your name, you have no need for your old one",Even as she speaks I forget my old name, the new one replacing it even in my oldest memories "now, it is time for you journey to begin"

My surroundings began to shift until I was standing in a clearing, with a cavalier and a myrmidon charging my way. Just my luck_ - you better prepare yourself - _shut up, me. I looked closely at the enemies in my path _the cavalier barely knows how to ride, although myrmidon has a decent knowledge of swordsmanship. At our current level, difficulty is about 3/10_

Wow thanks for the overview, you're already proving to be useful,me_ just call me Shade_

I charged towards the cavalier, ducking under the poorly held lance and jabbing at the horse's knee cap, the horse fell forward and launched the rider over with an ominous thud.I expected to have a lot more trouble getting by that lance. _Adaptational style: nullifies negative effects of the weapon triangle. _ That is going to be really useful eventually.

I turned toward the myrmidon, who was about fifty meters away and growing closer. I lifted my hand and felt power surging through me, **Trojan Flux.** I fired two orbs of dark energy at the opponent. The myrmidon dodged the first one,which was merely a feign anyway. The second rammed into his arm with a cacophony of cracks, he wasn't using that arm anytime soon.

The myrmidon reached me before I could attack, grazing my side. I came in for a strike,which he gracefully parried. the man gave a swift strike, and I turned away from the blow and tried to counter. My sword dug into the man's heart while his blade sunk into me leg.

"You fought well." I said to the dead man as I turned and hobbled, only to see a small group coming towards me. I didn't know whether these men were friend or foe, but I raised Yamikiri, prepared for either possibility

**Thank you for reading and please review! Please send in ocs, but I'll only take one per person. The cast will involve the creators of law(which I will take 5-6 of) and the liaisons of chaos(I will take 2-3) The class will have to be created by you ( Each person will manifest their power differently) along with skills ,promotion, and a special ability( these can be anything as long as it fits into the game's mechanics and isn't overly gamebreaky, although it can be overpowered, as long as it has some form of drawback) and the character can be any race from fire emblem**

**name:**

**age:**

**race:**

**gender:(I want it to be as even as possible so please send a few females)**

**faction:**

**appearance:**

**history:**

**class:(and also no ninjas, you just can't have those accurately in something like fire emblem)**

**personality of shadow:**

**s rank possibilities:(must be more than 1 but can't be an excessive amount)**

**future children:(no more than two, if they marry a character with preset children I'll only take two, but both will be taken if the other has no preset children. These don't have to be a class you made)**

**when does the character show up:(1st gen characters must be in main story, but children can show up whenever)**

**and also, Do you guys want to see both Robins or only one, and do you want one Morgan or both?(names may be altered to avoid confusion)**


	2. 2 Shepherds, soldiers, and scorpions

**review answer corner:**

**BunkerSnail: I'm sorry, I like the character, but I don't take review characters because I need to have some way to contact you about any changes I may make.**

**Guest that asked about factions: Think of law as doing whatever is possible to uphold the virtues of society, and chaos as overthrowing the current society to create a new one, I'm sorry if that's too vague ,I can't think of many ways to explain it.**

**Author's note, I can only take one more chaos character(preferably male but it doesn't matter as much for this faction). I can also take three more law characters, in this case I NEED MORE FEMALES, as it is we have five guys compared to three girls, any worse and it will seriously throw off the support system. Also, for anyone who is wondering, this story takes plays three years from now. Anyway, let's get on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own Kira, another OC that will be introduced, and their shadows.**

_italics: shadow speaking_

_underlined italics:__ both emissary and shadow are in agreement._

_**bold: key terms, such as names, spells, etc.**_

_**All three**_: limit break or other crazy shit

Two members of the group came up to me. Thankfully, it seemed that I was not in any danger as these people were Maribelle and Stahl. I quickly put Yamakiri into my sheath.

"_Don't say anything suspicious, treat this as if you had no idea who these people were."_

Oh really Shade, and here I thought the best plan of action was to rant about how I'm a servant of Naga and get myself thrown in an asylum somewhere.

"What should we do about this one, Stahl?" came a voice from behind me, oh yeah, Maribelle, I almost forgot in my mindless ranting.

"Well judging from the brigands lying on the ground I doubt he could be an enemy."Stahl chuckled. Okay, you're kinda scaring me right now, but I'll let that slide since you're defending me. "Let's wait for the captain to come, we'll see what he thinks of this."

Wait what, captain who's the captain? I survey the area, looking at the other shepherds. There are two people sporting tall wizard hats, Ricken and miriel. I see a shirtless slab of muscle with blond hair, Vaike. Finally my eyes drifted to a man with light brown hair in a military cut. He wore light silver plated armor, covering a fur-lined leather jerkin. He held a gleaming iron spear in his right hand and had a box loaded with javelins strapped to his back.

Shade, quick, I need a status report on this guy.

"_Sure: Knightmare- a slightly tankish class with high strength, defense, resistance and hp at the cost of all magic ability, a massive chunk of his luck, and a small portion of his speed. Once he becomes stronger he will be as terrifyingly brutal as a bear cavalry"_

Well ,I think it's safe to assume this guy is the captain.

"Hey Maribelle!", came the man's voice shouting at us, "Just heal the man already, I seriously doubt he's a danger to us either way!

"Yes sir" she said as she pulled out her mend staff. Wait, did she just agree to assist a "commoner"?

"wow!",said the captain, "You didn't complain over his social status, we're making progress, Mary"

"Well", _ 'Look Kira she's blushing', _"you've shown me that one can come from nothing and still climb to the top, so I'm willing to give this one a chance."

"_Aww, Mary has a crush on the captain."_

Shade, it's not nice to tease.

"_But I ship it"_ _chimed Shade in a tone that was half-serious and half-joking._

The only response I had was to mentally facepalm, wait I forgot something.

"Who are you guys anyway?" I said, feeling the need to move this conversation forward.

"Huh? Oh, I got a little sidetracked." Said the captain

_Well no shit Sherlock, _ wait me and Shade were in sync there for a second.

"My name is **Brutus Argent**, and yours is?"

Wait, Aurum and Argent, gold and silver. Naga has a strange sense of humor.

"_You know they'll think you're batty if you don't give him an answer"._

Oh yeah "My name is Kira Aurum, I am merely a wanderer looking to find work in Ylisse, thank you all for coming to my aid."

The rest of the group came and gave their respective introductions. Through our conversations I learned that Brutus has been here since he was a kid. He is close to the Ylissean royal family, was formerly Frederick's apprentice and is now considered a captain in the military. We were having a nice conversation and were almost ready to head out when…

"Guys, I think we have a problem" I heard Ricken say nervously as he pointed at something. We all turned to see, well…

"What in Hell is that thing?" No answer. Do you know, Shade? 

_It seems to be a fire breathing scorpion sir, it has beast, armor, and wyrm weaknesses, but it is still a very formidable foe, difficulty is at 9/10 _

The creature looked sort of like the Gohma from Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker, although the real deal is MUCH more terrifying than the game. It was about 20 feet tall, with 3 foot claws and a massive tail, which boasted a stinger the size of a broadsword.

Damn, I thought Morgan just made those up to scare Noire. We have our work cut out for us. Brutus launched a javelin towards the Beast, leaving a sizeable crack in its armor, wait what? 

_Iron reaver- an ability that adds armor slayer to basic attacks, difficulty adjusted to 7/10. _

"Why did you agitate that thing?" questioned Maribelle. She had a very good point actually.

"In case you haven't noticed", replied Brutus, "That thing is NOT native to Ylisse. Those brigands were probably prepared to send it out as a last resort. If we don't kill it here, who knows how many people would die."

Okay, so we have no choice but to fight, let's think of a plan… got it!

"Brutus, Ricken, and Miriel, you should stay on top of the ridge and attack it from a range". That way, we'll be dealing bonus damage from three different points while Miriel does chip damage. "Maribelle you stay back and heal when necessary, and Stahl, you stay back and replace one of us if we get injured. Vaike you're coming with me." That way we won't have too many people taking damage at one time.

"And why should we listen to you,traveler?" Brutus said calmly, as if to challenge me.

I turned around, letting my long coat blow around dramatically "Do you have any better ideas perhaps" letting the sarcasm drip through my words.

"How dare you speak so insolently around one of a higher station than your own?" Damn it, Maribelle.

"He's right, Mary, we don't exactly have many options". Thank you, Brutus.

The others gave varying consent, most accepted the plan, albeit begrudgingly (I don't really blame them, I wouldn't trust me either). Others(Vaike) accepted with great enthusiasm.

Vaike and I charged towards the beast. Vaike leaped towards the scorpion.

"Do you smell what the Vaike is cooking?" he brought his axe down onto the crack brutus left and tore off a portion of its armor.

"_Okay, that. Was. Epic."_

Yes, yes it was. I dashed at the scorpion, getting two quick hits in before dodging the scorpion's slow, bulky claws.

"I bet ol' teach is stronger than you." Vaike said from beside me.

"And I'm smarter." I returned.

"The Vaike can take a hit better."

"I'm faster."

"well", Vaike sputtered "Vaike's weapon's bigger than yours."

"Real men use small weapons." I said with a deadpan expression.

Vaike laughed,"You're a pretty good guy, Kira." he said as he barely dodged a blow.

"Same to you, Vaike." I got another quick strike in.

"_Thou art I and I am thou, thou hast established a new-"_

Shut it Shade, this isn't a game.

I charged at the scorpion, feeling a strange burst of speed. I landed two blows then easily danced away from the creature's claws and tail.

"_It seems we have awakened to our trump."_

The hell's a trump?

" _it is the mark of a dragon's emissary, a great blessing that almost always comes with a curse. To this date there has only been one perfect trump, and that may only be a rumor. Our ability is __**devil speed**__- a form shift skill that doubles our speed and skill in exchange for halving our defenses and resistance. As we have yet to adjust the ability we won't be able to use it for very long."_

I saw Vaike get rammed by the claws, he couldn't handle being in the fray for much longer.

"Get over to Maribelle, I'll hold it off until Stahl gets here."

"But-"

"But nothing!", I shouted, "You have a duty to your country, and it's not to risk your life for someone you just met!"

Vaike's expression turned somber " Aye, sir." and he ran towards the healer.

I charged again, surrounded by the literal cover fire , along with spurts of Elwind and Brutus's javelins. I struck the hellish arachnid as many times as I could, dodging claws and the massive tail, occasionally seeing balls of fire shoot towards the back row.

Suddenly, I saw the tail shoot towards Maribelle and Vaike. I dashed as fast as I could, running ahead of the tail, but my trump ended when I was still about twenty meters away from the two, and I felt my speed and defenses shift back to normal. The Scorpion saw that the thorn in its side had become optimal prey, and brought its sword-tail down.

The blade entered the right side of my chest, causing me to yelp in pain.

"_At least it wasn't on the left side, then you would be on your way to the grave."_

But still, even if I haven't known these guys long, they have become comrades to me, and the monster tried to kill them. Fury roared through me as I set my hand on the tail. I felt a massive surge of power as I let dark energy flow through my hand.

**Fluxuate**

My magic ran along the tail, and severed the blade from the rest of the tail.

Black began to spec my vision, and I knew I didn't have much time left.

"_You just used up about half of that tome."_

Then what better time is there use the rest of it than now?

"_Good point"_

I weakly raised my hand, charging up power, and I said the incantation of a spell that was sadly a mere imitation of the original .

"Would you please", I said with a faint smirk, "_**Die for me?"**_ and then it all faded to black.

Brutus pov

I watched as needles of dark energy pierced the scorpion's shell.

_"The boy has great raw power, but he has no idea how to control it yet."_

You took the words out of my mouth, Octavian.

I channeled all my strength into my legs, leaping off of the cliff towards the beast, Bringing my spear down on top of the creature's head.

"Exhausting Strike" I yelled, plunging the tip into the scorpion's head.

The best gave one final screech, before collapsing on the ground.

I felt my muscles tighten in pain from my trump's recoil, and quickly dove down to the others.

Mary was currently healing Kira, who was in by far the worst shape out of all of us. The others were applying vulneraries to Vaike so that he can still keep going if Mary's staff ran broke.

I took a closer look at Kira, how could Naga have been so worried about this one mortal?

_"According to Naga, this boy could have potentially ended up falling into Grima's hands. You saw his power, if the fell dragon tempered him as his own weapon, it would tip the scales permanently into his favor. Luckily, the boy seems to have at least partially regain what was missing. If he and our other companions are given the proper training, we may actually win this war."_

I looked at the others and spoke "Once he is healed, we must take him with us."

Miriel was the first to speak " Would it really be in our best interests to bring him with us? What if he declines our offer?"

I responded "He said he was looking for work and that is what we'll give him, he has no reason to decline. We are taking him, and that's final."

Kira pov

I woke up on the… roof of a building?

"_I see you've woken up, it's nice to meet you in person."_said a figure wearing my long coat, except rather than having simple leather armor stitched on to it, his coat came with samurai armor, helm, leg bracers and all. He had the cowl covering his face and the hood up, so the only feature I could see was his glowing yellow eyes piercing the darkness.

"_When you first died, everything other than this building had gone dark. I had thought you became a hollow shell, but then a few of the lights began to return. You had lost your way, but you are slowly becoming your old self again."_

"Who are you?" I couldn't hold the question in any longer.

"_Why I'm Shade, of course. Do you know why the city went dark, perhaps? _How the hell am I supposed to know something like that? Wait, everything went dark except for this one building,**alone**.

"It's because I found myself alone, right?" ,Shade nodded sagely, "and the lights are coming back because I'm creating bonds with new people?"

_"Well, since you seem to realize where your strength comes from", Shade said calmly, "I guess it's time to begin making our plans for the future, follow me." _Shade ran and jumped off the side of the building.

Well, I gulped, I guess I have no other choice. I off and jumped after him.

**Will anyone find out what game Brutus is a reference to?What are Shade and Kira planning? What does Shade look like? Will I ever get to the canon? Find out next time on Emblem OC!**


	3. Shadowboxing

**Review answer corner:**

**Ace: The three years means three years in our world, as for Ylisse, you will find out in this chapter.**

**Author's notes: I am now taking review OCs as well as PMs, I will change the summary when the cast is filled up. I still need two more female characters for the law side (I finally got a non-human character yay!) and one more character for the chaos side.**

**Disclaimer: I do not open Fire Emblem, I do however own The borderline Gary Stu that is Kira and the badasses that are Brutus and Shade.**

As we landed on the ground, I took a look at the city, despite the small number of lights the place held a sort of luster to it.

_"It's beautiful down here, isn't it." _ Shade said as if reading my thoughts, maybe he did.

"It has its charms.", I stated calmly, "Where are we going any way?"

_"A new cafe just opened up on mainstreet and I want to check it out."_

"Is that really a good place to plan our way through a war?" I asked incredulously. Why the hell would we plan something like that.

"_Relax a little, would you?" Shade stated calmly, "It's hard to leak secrets when all the residents are fragments of yourself."_

I looked around and saw that all the people looked familiar, all bearing the faces of people I had met in my old life.

I checked out the buildings as we passed, there was Vaike's gym, Argent coliseum, chateau Maribelle, and the university of magic, with a wing each for Ricken and Miriel.

We finally reached the Man of steel cafe, opening the door slowly.

As we entered, We were greeted by Stahl, "Ahh, the big bosses decided to come to the grand opening." he said with a bright smile.

_"I should have known this was yours", shade said slyly, " pun well played, Mann aus Stahl."_

We both placed our orders and sat at a table.

_"So", Shade began slowly, "let's start with what we'll do about Maribelle's kidnapping."_

_Brutus pov_

We were marching on the path back to Ylisstol, alternately shifting our now- deadweight friend between Maribelle and Stahl's horses in order to keep from overly straining either one.

"_Are you certain we can handle taking him all the way back? It IS a three day journey you know."_

We'll just have to grin and bear it, Octavian, we can't exactly leave another servant of Naga laying out to die, you know.

"_He'll probably be begging you to take him back after he sees what your training is like."_

I don't think he's that flimsy, he was doing pretty well considering he couldn't have been on this world for more than a couple of hours yet.

"_Yes, but that scorpion was nothing compared to the hell you'll put him through."_

True, oh gods they let him fall. I heaved a heavy sigh, this is going to be a looong three days.

Kira pov

After we finished making a rough plan for the war, I realized how little information I actually had. "So what can you tell me about what's going on? Why was I chosen of all people? How are Naga's forces so much weaker than Grima's? What are the abilities we can have? What was that perfect trump you mentioned earlier? Wh-"

_"Okay, okay, I get it, you need answers and we haven't given you any. I guess I should start off with the reason you were chosen, it's because you are extremely similar to the exalted line, and to an extent, Naga herself.", He must have caught my confused look because he immediately began to elaborate, " You aren't especially strong by yourself, but you draw strength from your friends. You are inherently stubborn and determined, but your hard work goes nowhere without the help of others. You always give your friends support, and share in their happiness and sorrows. You are the type who would march straight into Hell itself if it meant keeping those close to you safe. That is what makes you a prime candidate to become one of Naga's emissaries."_

_ "As for the second, Naga and Grima aren't really any stronger than each other, in a one on one fight Grima would win but if you gave them each an army, then Naga's forces would crush his, no questions asked. But the main problem is drawing forces from another realm, it is rare for any divine dragon or other holy entity to call upon others to become a creator of the law. On the other hand, the fell bloods and other malevolent beings have made it into a tradition. Entire races have been created due to dark beings seeking out liaisons, every form of hybrid race in the worlds have roots entangled among this tradition, although they also have a bit of order in their origin story."_

_ "And to answer about the abilities, there are four types of trumps: Combative, passive, form-shift and auxiliary. Combative abilities allow one to use a powerful attack in the middle of battle in exchange for some form of recoil. Passive trumps have some special ability that activate based on certain conditions. Form-shifts are like your own trump, they allow one to alter their fighting styles in exchange for adding to a certain weakness, in some cases these can almost pass as basic abilities and can be easily mastered and used as much as wanted, Yours is anything but, it will take several months if not years for you to master. Auxiliary abilities cover just about everything else, they can do anything at some cost, such as requiring a long time to activate."Shade took a long sip of his coffee, his throat becoming sore from all the talking._

_ " A perfect trump is a theoretical ability that can change the tide of battle, be used infinitely and has no adverse effects on the user whatsoever. If rumors are to be believed, then this may not be theoretical any longer. Any more questions?"._

Yes, one what do you look like under that hood?" Shade looked at me with disturbing glee, and his mouth seemed to glow as his expression shifted into a villain-in-glasses smile.

_"Let's go back up to the skyscraper, if you can pass a little test of mine then I'll let you see."_

_Brutus pov_

On the night of the first day we set up our camp in the woods. For once, everything was calm as we sat by the fire talking about the past day.

"He's still asleep, huh?" said Ricken.

"He deserves his rest, he came up with that plan,you know." Yes ,stahl, yes he did.

"That last spell should have been far beyond his capabilities, maybe I should use him for some experiments." Really,Miriel?

"Teach doesn't think you should do that, the Vaike is still recovering from the LAST time you did something like that".

"I agree with Vaike on that one, not even the worst street rats deserve a fate such as that."

"Besides", I said with an evil grin, "I need him in good shape so he can survive my training." Everyone shuddered at this knowing that Frederick's fitness hour had nothing in the Argent gauntlet.

Everything was calm after that, until-

"Ricken, just what the hell were you planning on doing with that quill?" The boy immediately turned tail and ran.

_Kira pov_

We went to the place that I now refer to as the memory skyscraper, with the area's resemblance to the City that Never Was from Kingdom Hearts.

"So what is this challenge I must complete?" I asked, curious.

_"You must land a scratch somewhere other than my hands", Shade said as he held his hands out wide, "I will us nothing other than hand to hand combat and defensive spells."_

That shouldn't be hard, I thought as I charged at him. I gave a strong swift strike which he caught easily with his hand, using the other to nail me in the gut and knock me back.I heard music begin to play in the background.

_"Wir haben noch einen langen Weg vor uns."_

Is this what I think this is? I thought as I gave another strike, only for him to grab my blade out of my hands.

"_Jetzt ist Schluss mit lustig",he made swinging motions at the air, "Denn ich hab' erkannt". He makes staff-like motions with my sword, then throws it at my feet._

Not only is he fighting me bare handed, he's singing disney songs in german while he does it.

I kept launching blow after blow, doing less than nothing. He caught or dodged every strike, as if he knew what attack I would use before I did.

_"Geheimnisvoll zugleich so wie, der Mond!"_

As the song ended, I got in closer about to land a crit, when-

_"Vector shift"._

I was promptly sent flying back by an immense blast of wind, Accelerator style.

_"Better, but you're still not at your best, yesterday you used a C- rank spell with an E-rank tome." The music changed again, to Monsters by Matchbook Romance. "Girl, what's come between you and me", I launched a strike, only for him to fade into the shadows. He came back up and gave me a mocking grin._

So my shadow, named Shade, is singing **this** song while fighting me on top of memory skyscraper and using vector shift, how many references can one guy make mid-battle?

. I gave a hard push into a charge, and the cycle repeated again.

_ "We are, we are the monsters, we are the monsters, underneath your , believe what you read."_

I was finally catching onto his fighting style, each blow getting closer and closer to their mark.

_He hit the last refrain of the song "... Believe what you see."_

I reached out my blade as far as possible, barely landing a scratch on his chest.

"_It seems we may stand a chance." Shade said, now lifting up his hood. He had short brown hair, with a small scar beside his right eye. His eyes, which had seemed yellow before, were a bright hazel, with each side alternating between brown and green. _

_ "Before you go back out into the world, remember this", Shade began, "You may be a pawn now, but pawns can be promoted, while others will eventually hit a wall in their growth, you will always be able to reach higher. If used properly, even the weakest pawn can become the strongest piece on the board."_

As he finished his statement, I felt myself being dragged back where I belong.

_Kira pov, Ylisse_

"Hey look, sleeping beauty over here's awake." I heard Brutus say as I begin to open my eyes.

"Where are we at?" I asked as I sat up on Maribelle's horse.

"We're a few hours outside of Ylisstol, also, get off of Mary's horse before the poor thing collapses from exhaustion." Ouch, as soon as I wake up this guy makes me march.

_"Just deal with it, you pansy."_

You aren't the one starting the morning off with a march, Shade.

_" You should be used to it, with all those morning runs you used to do."_

There is a difference, I actually liked doing that. Well, I thought as I rummaged through our supplies for a quill and parchment I could use, I might as well make this a learning experience.

I walked over to Ricken, preparing to take notes. "Hey Ricken, can you teach me about magic?"

"Sure, what do you need?"

"Well, I could use a little help with some of the more complicated theories of spell structure and control."

"Are you certain that we shouldn't start off with something a little, I don't know, simpler?"

"Well, I figured I wouldn't be able to get your help once we're in the capitol, so I'll learn the hard stuff from you since I won't understand a thing Miriel tells me if she teaches me anything other than the fundamentals." I rubbed the back of my head, embarrassed to admit my incomprehension of Miriel's speech.

"Why wouldn't I be able to teach you?"

"You aren't officially in the shepherds, are you?"

"How did you-" Ricken began, only to be cut off.

"Because the prince **definitely **seems like the kind of guy to send someone your age to the frontline." I said sarcastically. "It's not that you are weak or anything, you are as skilled as any other mage out there, but I doubt he would be able to live with himself if you were killed in battle. If you want to be on the frontline, then you will have to show him that you're going whether he likes i or not."

"Wow, I never really thought about it like that, you may be right." ,Ricken said thoughtfully, "A-anyway, we should probably get to your lesson, we don't really have much time before we reached the capitol.

Ricken gave me the abridged version of the theories, and I took as many notes as possible. I felt as if I truly understood every word of the lecture. I shouldn't have too much trouble connecting it with Miriel's future lessons, assuming I could decipher my own horrible handwriting.

As we reached the capitol,I had another question to ask. "By the way, I could have swore I felt the tip of a quill touching my face a couple of nights ago, you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"N-no of course not.",He said nervously, "Gottagobye!" Ricken rushed towards the distance. Well, at least his house should be nearby.

_"It's too easy to mess with that kid."_

Yes, Shade, yes it is.

_"By the way, it seems you now have a c support with Ricken."_

You don't have to tell me when I get a support, okay actually just tell me whenever I get near S territory.

_"Also, it seems that supports work a little bit differently than in the game, you don't necessarily have to fight alongside someone to initiate a support, you just have to meet the other person's requirements for it."_

That is very good to know, thank you for the information.

"Hey guys, we should probably stop for a bit."Stahl said behind me,

"Is there any particular reason we should stop in the middle of town?" Brutus asked.

"Yes, sir" He pointed at a large crowd. I saw that a parade was going on, with Emmeryn at the center.

The game did not do the woman justice. While she had already looked regal, it couldn't compare to the real thing. She was absolutely radiant, the shining light of her people. It was easy to see why the commoners adored her so much.

"So, what do you think of our dear exalt?" Brutus asked, materialising at my side.

"She is amazing" I said, stunned.

"I thought you would say something along those lines", Brutus smiled, " Let's head to the castle.

As we reached the throne room we heard voices coming from inside.

"Do they have your trust, Chrom?"Emmeryn's lines from before the north road.

_"Wait, she said them."_

That she did, Shade. Either there is another of us with them or- I walked into the throne room and saw both the male and female avatars, the female with fully default settings, and the same for the male aside from his black hair.

Holy shit there's two of them.

"Yes, they helped us to save Ylissean lives." , Chrom said as he turned noticing our presence. "Hello Brutus, how was your patrol?"

"It was pretty good, aside from the huge ass scorpion that could breath fire."

The two began to relay the events of the past few days to each other.

"Warriors rising from the grave in order to battle, that's not something you see everyday." Brutus said, unnerved.

"I'm sorry, but could you please introduce us to your friends?" The female Robin said sweetly.

"Oh, right. Guys, this is Robin.", Chrom pointed at the silver haired girl, "and this is Khrow." he pointed to the dark haired man.

He began introducing each of us to the twins.

"And this is-" Chrom began, "actually Brutus, who is this?"

"Is he Plegian?" Frederick questioned angrily.

"This is Kira Aurum.", Brutus introduced me calmly, "And no, Frederick, I highly doubt this man is Plegian, especially since he killed two brigands AND helped us fight off a potential threat to Ylisse."

"That means nothing, anyone can become a threat eventually." Frederick retorted.

"Nevertheless, he will be a member of the shepherds, so long as Chrom allows it." Brutus stated firmly.

"He really was a big help."Stahl said.

"He gave ol' teach a run for his money out there." Vaike agreed.

"He would be a great subject." miriel said, scaring me a bit.

"He may be a buffoon, but he's our buffoon." Thank you, Maribelle.

"It looks like you're overruled." Chrom smiled.

"Well I still don't agree with it, both he and the twins seem very suspicious."Frederick argued fervently.

"I can understand you not trusting me or Khrow, we do seem a little suspicious," I pointed at Robin, "but does this look like the face of evil to you?" To emphasize my point, she gave an adorable pout.

"W-well I…" Frederick giggled, and everyone else began to laugh except for Frederick who looked aggravated and Khrow who kept a blank expression.

"Fine, but know that I disapprove of this." Frederick said.

I leaned in toward Robin and whispered conspiratorially "Hey, we can make a club of people who Frederick hates."

"We could call it Frederick's worries." she responded, giggling.

"Welcome to the Shepherds", Chrom stated, "I'm looking forward to working with you. Let me show you guys the barracks."

"Actually", Emmeryn chimed, "I would like to speak in private with Brutus and Kira."

The others left, even Phila, who had not so much as spoken the entire time I had been in there. It was now just the three of us.

"I am honored to meet a second of Naga's servants." I stood stock still in shock. "I still remember that day so many years ago when Brutus, no more than a child, came to us ranting incoherently about being sent by the divine dragon." She smiled, "None of the others in the castle believed his story, but I did, and now, he comes with another of his kind. Now I must ask you, as a servant of Naga, what do you think of my attempts at peace?"

**We are starting to make progress, hopefully only one more chapter of filler before we get to the actual plot, and only a couple of chapters until more of the cast is introduced.**

**Welp, see you next time. Until then, I must bid you adieu.**


	4. preparations

**Author's notes: Well there aren't really any reviews that I need to answer this time, although I did get some good advice from Cormag . I have finally filled that last antagonist space, although now one person has two OC's. I had wanted to keep a rule of one OC per person, but no one seemed to want that space and the character will be pretty interesting if I manage to write him properly.**

** Disclaimer: I don't own Fire Emblem, the day I do will be the day money starts falling from the sky. **

xxxxxxxxxxxx

So, the freaking queen- er, exalt- is asking ME of all people what I think of her attempts at peace.

_"Seriously, that's like asking aquaman for advice about becoming a superhero, it just doesn't make any sense."_

Thanks for that wonderful encouragement, Shade.

I answered as well as I could, "I feel that you are making great strides towards peace." I saw Emmeryn give a small smile. "However, if this world is anything like where I come from, then peace may only come after both sides have been torn apart by war. While I would like to say this has already happened, it seems we are still facing the aftermath of your father's actions."

"Then you do not believe there is any chance of settling our conflict peacefully?" Emmeryn questioned.

"I feel that war is inevitable, it will come no matter what happens. Until that day comes, kill them with kindness. Build up your armies while they aren't paying attention, so that they will underestimate us. Try for peace if possible, but always be prepared for war. Either way, you have given me a new home, so I will follow your orders as far as the pits of Hell."

To be honest, I think the war with Gangrel would have had a chance of being resolved. The Plegian war is not a major threat, however, I doubt sunshine and rainbows will stop Validar and commander crustacean when they come.

Emmeryn seemed to begrudgingly accept my response, while Brutus gave a confident grin.

"I agree with Kira, we need to be prepared for anything.", he said with a sly grin, "Too bad his blade isn't as sharp as his words are."

Seriously man, I helped you out earlier.

"_He does have a point, if you didn't have a plus ten sword of awesome you would have died three times over by now."_

Fine, I get it, I still have a ways to go.

Something struck me "Wait you guys don't have any more of us in your numbers?" We have twice as many people as Grima's men, I was expecting a small army.

"_Hopefully we'll at least be able to form a five man band."_

"Well,",Brutus fidgeted a bit, "There is one more, but she has been in this world just as long as I have and doesn't remember much about our home. She also doesn't like attention much which makes it very difficult to get her in front of Emm."

"Okay, noted." I'll need to speak with her later, we need to get a bit of a team going here. I turned to Emmeryn "By the way,can I access the library?". There are some materials I really need to find.

"Yes, you may access all features of the castle as you wish." She gave a bright smile.

"Are there any tomes in there? I kinda fried my only good flux." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Yes, we keep the basics of every branch in the magical knowledge section." That is really convenient, I would be screwed in an actual battle without some magic.

I bowed respectfully, "Thank you, dear exalt, I will now take my leave."

Time to gather some study materials.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brutus showed me to the library, where I found an immense amount of books.

"Wow, this place is amazing." I could barely hold in my awe.

"Really? I've never cared all that much for books, so I guess I wouldn't know." Brutus said simply.

I searched the library , quickly finding wind and flux tomes. Sadly, they only had the basics, so we will still need to purchase any higher level tomes. What we have here should suffice for a while, at least.

A further search netted me some books on magic control, auxiliary spells, and basic tactics.I also found several books which had shockingly similar names to things from home, such as The Adventures of Wyvern man and Robin, The Grimleal Instruments: Village of Shadows, and who could forget Oifey Sesar and the Valmeseans. Yep, none of these sound like fanmade parodies of my favorite books and comics.

"_At least there isn't a version of Kingdom Hearts or Persona 3."_

Good point, I would be wrecking the entire place if that were to happen.

I heard the voice of Brutus behind me, " Judging from your interest in these books, I'd say it's a safe bet to say you were a scholar in our old world."

"Of a sort.", I responded, "I had been studying to become a history professor, but I guess that's all in the past." I reached for a detailed history of Ylisse and Altea, trying not to think about my old home.

"Not used to it yet, huh?" Brutus gave me a sad look, then continued, "I had thought you were already recovering, since you were calm during the battle."

"You don't exactly get time to freak out over anything when you are immediately faced with two enemy soldiers followed by a fight with an eldritch abomination." I gave a small smile, "Don't worry, I'll get over it. What I've lost, I'll build back up. I may have lost my home, but you guys have given me a new one. I won't freak out over my circumstances, if I freak out then I'm dead. Besides, it's not like I can do anything about my situation."

Brutus took a step forward, " We may as well get going, the others are probably waiting for us."

As we were walking, I asked Brutus something that made me curious. "Do you have any dreams?"

"Yes, I want to be like the legendary paladin Jagen."

"I'd say you don't have too far to go, judging from your performance in the last battle."

"I still have a long way to go, I can barely take Frederick on when he's wielding a sword. Not only is that his weakest weapon, it's also at a major disadvantage to my fighting style."

"How strong is he with a lance?"

"I once saw the man take on a bear the size of the scorpion from yesterday with no armor or mount, just that silver lance."

We continued talking like this the entire way to the barracks.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

We went to the barracks, and went through what was basically the same dialogue from before chapter two. There was one difference, however, we had an extra unit among the group. She wore a long black trench coat with a black version of the trickster hat, marked by a red feather. She had long red hair, similar to an Anna's. This must be the other one of us that Brutus mentioned.

After a nudge from Chrom, she introduced herself as **Crimson.**

"_This one's a Rogue, they are exceedingly skilled thieves who are adept with knives. They might not be the best units to throw at a wall of knights, but they are great for throwing the enemies out of formation."_

Thank you for the analysis, Shade, that will come in handy later.

I noticed something that had to be addressed, and leaned towards Brutus.

"So you have a thing for the princess, huh?" I whispered mischievously.

"Is it really that obvious?"He asked incredulously.

I nodded "As obvious as the brand on Chrom's arm, I don't know how the girl hasn't noticed."

"Hey Brutus, do you have time for a spar?"Crom cut in, oblivious to the conversation we were having.

"Sure, I could use a workout." Brutus agreed and the two walked towards the castle's training grounds. Sumia followed, wishing to watch. She also tripped a couple times as she left.

"_Brutus is like the male version of Cordelia." _

That he is, Shade, that he is.

Welp, time to study some magic.

I walked over to a small table and pulled out my book. Miriel noticed and walked up to me.

"I see that you are studying magic refinement. Here are some hypotheses I have made on the subject, as well as some other useful notes." As if she had never come to begin with, she disappeared leaving only her notes.

I took a good look at the notes, trying to make sense of them. I found them riddled with scientific observations and complex equations.

"_How many digits of pi did this woman write here?"_

Two hundred and ninety seven, Sho Minamimoto would be rolling in his grave right now.

"_His virtual grave, you mean."_

Hey if Fire Emblem can be real, why can't The World ends With You be the same?

"_That is a good point, actually."_

Robin seemed to notice my struggle and walked up to me.

"Do you need any help?" She asked.

"Yes please, I'm getting a migraine just looking at this!" it's not that I'm bad at math, but it wasn't exactly my major, either.

"Okay, let's take a look." She quickly glanced over the notes. "First off, let's take a different route than the mathematical approach. Become the element you are using."

"Yeah, because it's so easy to become wind and pure darkness."I said sarcastically.

She tried to give an angry look, but it only made her look adorable. "When you use wind, Imagine a small breeze becoming a raging gale. When you use fire, think of a tiny spark growing into an immense bonfire. When using thunder, let a tiny jolt expand as it travels through your enemy. When you use darkness, let insanity overtake you."

"I think I get the gist of it, can you help me practice?"

"Sure, let's go." And we walked off to the magic range.

XXXXXXXXXXX

"So, do you have any hobbies?" Robin asked as we launched rounds of our respective magic.

"Yeah, I enjoy reading, running, and swimming." Among other things that don't exist in this world.

"So you are both fairly athletic and scholarly?"

"I never thought of it that way, but I guess so."

"If only I was like that. My magic is strong, but I'm pretty bad with a sword. The opposite can be said for my brother."

"Now hold up; I said I was athletic, athletic doesn't always mean strong. I am quick, maybe, but I am not 's a reason I wield a rapier instead of a regular sword, I would never last a full battle swinging one of those around."

"So you use cunning, not brute force."

"Not really, I'm just going to choose my battles carefully. Even the weakest units can cut past the armor of a myrmidon or mercenary, and mounted and armored opponents are no problem against a rapier. What I can't cut, I can probably blow apart with magic."

"_You are about as cunning as a cow with a mental illness._"

Come on Shade, I know I'm not the most subtle person in the world but I'm not THAT bad.

"Assuming you can get a decent spell in.", Robin cut in, "Your magic is getting better, but it's still unstable. You should be able to make it for the moment, but don't try anything risky. You should probably go get something to eat, shouldn't you? If I remember what Brutus and the others said correctly, you were unconscious for a couple of days."

At this, my stomach gurgled loudly. "Yeah, I guess I should head down. I'll see you later, Robin." I said as I felt my face turn red.

I walked back to the barracks, where I had an intense discussion about food with Stahl.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Brutus pov_

I felt shock through my lance as I blocked Chrom's attack. It seemed that Chrom had grown stronger over the past few days, however, - I pushed Chrom backwards and gave a quick sweeping strike that he barely parried- so had I. He gave two alternating strokes that I fluidly parried. While we both loved sparring with the other shepherds, our best matches were always with each other. We were equal every step of the way, giving each other the push we needed to become stronger.

We were locked in a dance of blades. Chom swung his blade, I parried and riposted. Chrom went for a sliding strike, which I flipped over. As soon as I landed Chrom was airborne, aiming to crash down on me. I swept my lance with as much force as possible to the side of his blade, and we were both brought to the ground. We got up, charged towards each other, and-

I held my lance toward his heart, and he had his blade at my throat.

It was a draw.

"You fought well, as to be expected of the prince of Ylisse."

"The same to you, as to be expected of Frederick's former squire."

" I was hoping we would be able to finally figure out which one of us is the better warrior, but I guess the score is still even." I said, amused by this turn of events.

" You and I both know who would win if we both used swords." Chrom retorted.

" 'A prince must be prepared to face any obstacle in his path.', right?" I said, mimicking Frederick's voice.

" Except for pebbles or any other literal obstacle in my path." Chrom grinned jokingly.

I looked and saw Kira being dragged towards the training arena by the male tactician. What was his name again?

" _It was Khrow, I believe. Sir, you need to learn to remember people's names better."_

Thank you Octavian.

"Hey Chrom, let's watch this. I would like to see how the rookies stack up against each other."

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

Just my luck, one of the strongest fighters in the group decided to use me as a training dummy. Why can't I just get a little rest?

"_Because there ain't no rest for the wicked. Money don't grow on trees…"_

Quit singing Shade. I don't even like that song.

"You better focus before you lose your head.", Krow said teasingly before growing serious, "There are two ways to win. Either you land three solid blows, or you land what would normally be a killing blow."

He brandished his blade, holding it slightly to the side so that he could defend just as easily as attack. I held my own outward in a basic fencing stance, or at least a flynning stance. I'm not sure whether this is actually proper.

"Let us begin." Khrow gave a sideways strike that I barely managed to parry. I skidded a good foot, barely staying on my feet. I saw Khrow grin mockingly. The man was toying with me!

Looks like my defense won't be enough, I better go with speed. I activated my trump and dodged Khrows next strike, quickly rushing in for a counter.

Khrow easily deflected my strikes as if They were nothing. He gave another strike which I dodged and countered with a flurry of blows, only to be blocked.

This cycle repeated a couple more times. Khrow gave another strike. This time I leapt as far back as possible, then jumped to flip over him and go for a critical. As I was in midair, I felt my devil speed receding.

Khrow met me as I was mid- flip. He disarmed me and rammed my shoulder with the flat of his blade, strike one. He slammed my gut a hard as he could, strike two. As we landed, he held the training sword to my throat. Strike three, and I'm out.

Most of my body was numb while he wasn't even fazed.

"_Did that guy just do a shoryuken on us?"_

Yes, Shade. I have come to the conclusion that physics don't work here.

"_Nope, all we have here is Nintendo logic."_

Great.

"Your speed and precision were well above average, however your strikes were weak and predictable. I don't want any weaklings like you on our team." Khrow said in a matter-of-fact tone.

" He may be weak now, but I see potential in him. Give him time and I'm sure he will become a fine unit." Robin said, arriving at the scene.

" I'll listen to you for now, but I don't want any needless casualties.", Khrow looked from Robin to Chrom, "Can we have a strategy meeting for tomorrow's operation?".

The others nodded and walked away, leaving only me and Brutus standing there.

"Hey Kira, could you come with me? I have something I need to talk to you about."

I followed him out of the training area.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

As we walked off we picked up Crimson. We were all currently sitting in a field a mile or two away from the castle.

"So", Brutus began, "Can you tell us about our world? Neither of us remember any of it."

"Now where should I begin?" I rubbed my chin thoughtfully. " There are massive cities with buildings that stretch towards the clouds. We had horseless carriages capable of making week-long trips in a matter of hours. Our world has screens that can show any play one wished to see from the comfort of home. There were vehicles that could fly higher than any bird can."

The others looked at me in astonishment.

I continued, " My own home was admittedly smaller than Ylisstol, but I could access these technologies as well, these things were extremely common there. What was it like for you guys, living here?"

Brutus began, " I have spent most of my life here in the castle. I was trained by the finest knights and given some of the best treatment one can find in this world. I have made many friends and have a place to call home, that is more than some others can hope for." Brutus looked sadly towards Crimson, who began her own story.

" I have spent my entire life on the streets. I had to steal to survive, and run from any guard in sight. Many merchants and members of the black market thrived off of my business, while others had to chase me down to get their own share of bread. I was being chased by a particularly large group of guards when the shepherds found and recruited me."

I saw Brutus reaching for something in his pack. He pulled out a set of strange looking potions and a hefty training sword. Crimson reached into her own and pulled out a turret-like object with harpoons sticking out.

"It's time for your training." Brutus said. He pointed at various objects, "These potions are ethers. They allow a soldier to swiftly recover from fatigue, but they are useless in combat because you have to stay still for ten minutes after drinking them. This sword is weighted and will help you build up some muscle on those tiny arms of yours. And that," He points at the weird turret in Crimson's hands, "Is-"

"Our special training tool." Crimson cut in. "It will help you learn to use you trump properly. We can't help you very much with that by ourselves, since it hurts Brutus to use his trump and you wouldn't survive fifteen seconds against mine. With this we should be able to help you master your abilities."

"Let's begin." Brutus stated, instantly throwing me into hours of Hell.

XXXXXXXXXXXXX

The moon was already up high by the time I got back to the barracks. I collapsed onto my bed, hoping I would get a decent amount of sleep before the trip to Ferox.

**xxxxxxxxx**

** Well, I finally got the chapter finished. I had been sitting on half a chapter for a week, unable to find time to write. This past week has been crazy but things seem to be calming down a little (Don't ask.) . I hope I can get the next one finished sooner. See you guys next time!**


	5. River fords and zombie hordes

**Review Answer Corner**

** Cormag:Thanks man! And I do like how Crimson is turning out, although I will probably avoid writing her pov in the future.**

** Disclaimer: I will never have nearly enough money to on Fire Emblem.**

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

We had been marching for hours, or should I say walking. It's not exactly to keep a steady march when you don't have enough people to form the proper lines. Even then, all the differences in armor and mounts would cause everyone to fall out of step. It would just be one huge mess.

I realized something I had never really noticed before. "Hey Brutus, who is left to guard the castle and march patrols? I can't imagine you all would leave Ylisstol unprotected."

" The knights, mage corps and pegasus riders are staying behind on guard duty. The patrols, on the other hand will be led by my squad. I trust them to take care of any brigands while we are gone."

At least they aren't leaving the place exposed to attacks. Speaking of exposed, is that the bone of a risen I see there?

"Oh gods! More of these damn things." I heard Khrow say from in front of me.

"Ugh, I should have expected something like this." Robin joined in.

"Got a plan?" Chrom asked the duo.

"Always." The tacticians said in sync.

" Frederick, Sully, and Stahl will go to the left side." Robin began.

"Chrom and Virion, you'll come to the right to kick some ass with us." Krow continued.

"Vaike-" Robin was cut off.

" Dammit, where's my axe? I know I had it a minute ago!" great job, Vaike.

"Butus, Kira, you protect Vaike." Robin said, annoyed.

"Crimson, go crazy." Khrow stated simply.

"That's my specialty." she said and ran into the fray.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

I dashed by a fighter and a mymidon, cutting into their armor and grabbing two bullions.

I placed them into the endless pouch Naga gave me. Every soldier has a hiding place for their valuables, but they are easy to detect when you know what to look for.

I quickly dodged the blows they tried to land. These risen may look scary as all Hell, but they are slower than the average guard. I continued to steal more stuff while running away from attacks. Anna's gonna love the haul that I'll bring her next time I see her.

"_Which one? I swear there are thousands of them." _

You know, the only one I actually know well? The one who got us set up with the black market and gives us deals? Really, Vincent, you should know this by now.

_" Oh yeah, THAT Anna. Why do they all have the same name anyway? Doesn't it get confusing?"_

Why do you go by Vincent? Isn't that a weird name for a female shadow?

_ "Hey! It's not weird, it's unique."_

And the uniformity of the Annas makes them unique

"_Fine. By the way, you should watch your head."_

I rolled out of the way of an axe. I saw an arrow nail the wielder in the head, and a jackass with a bow in front of me.

"It looks like you are in need of some assistance, milady." Oh gods I'm hating him more and more by the second.

" I think we have that covered, Virion." OH THANK NAGA it's Robin and Khrow.

Okay, I should focus less on the money and more on the battle. I stabbed a myrmidon in the rib twice, making sure i was dead. I turned and saw Khrow surrounded by risen, with a thief charging behind him.

"Try not to lose your head!" I said as I threw a knife that slammed into the thief's skull.

_"Boom headshot!"_

It would help if you took this situation more seriously, Vincent.

" Nice pun, Crimson." Khrow chuckled.

_"You were saying?"_

Shut up.

A large mass of risen assembled in front of us, however, it seemed the tacticians were ready.

I watched as Khrow leapt into the air, lifting his sword. Robin raised her hand, sending streaks of lightning onto Khrow's blade. Khrow brought his blade down, and tendrils of sparks destroyed several of the risen.

Sadly, this barely put a dent into the horde.

"_We should probably use THAT technique."_

But we could hurt the others, I thought as I threw a spread of knives, wounding several risen but only killing one or two.

_"They will easily tear through any of these corpses that we leave behind. These things are too flimsy to harm your friends, but if we leave them in a horde like this they may be overtaken. Frederick and the others can clean up the mess left after, besides, Kira's group is on the way to finish them off."_

I leapt as far as I could into the horde. Fine, let's get it over with.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

We ran towards the others, ready to help fend off the horde. We came into the middle of the group, adding structure to the formation.

On the left, the mounted units fended off a squadron of mercenaries and myrmidons. Frederick was striking the enemies down in a violent dance, sending them flying as if he were the Hulk. Sully and Stahl were moving in unison as if the two were one person.

To my right, Khrow and Chrom were slashing wildly at the horde, joining together to become a human blender. Robin and Virion were launching rounds at the enemies from afar, raining Hell down upon them. Crimson was- wait where the hell was Crimson?

I saw A blur of black and red in the distance. Crimson had abandoned her throwing knives for the time being. Now she brandished a dagger in her left hand and an iron sword in her left. Mind explaining what's going on, Shade?

"_This seems to be her trump. Insanity- doubles all parameters other than vitality, but clouds the user's mind, blurring the line between friend and foe."_

Great, we'll have no problem getting rid of the risen, but Crimson will demolish us afterwards.

A large crowd of risen formed before us.

Miriel glanced at me "I believe it would maximize our capabilities if we combined our skills."

I smiled "Let's give it a shot!."

Miriel launched a fireball "Prepare to combust!"

I launched wind, expanding the flames " I hope you enjoy your stay at Hell hotel! I heard room 666 is simply fabulous!"

" It seems your magic has gotten a little more stable!" Robin said cheerfully.

"How can you tell?"I asked, curious.

"Because if your magic had been unstable, you and Miriel would have become extra crispy." Khrow cut in with an evil smirk.

I gulped nervously at the thought of what could have happened.

A smaller squadron came after us.

"_Watch out for these, they aren't absolute drek like the last groups. The others were weaker than most conscripts, these are actual functioning units."_

"Be careful, I'm getting a bad vibe from these guys!" thanks for restating that for me, Robin.

A fighter charged towards Brutus. He tried to block a strike from the risen's axe, but was sent sprawling to the ground.

I sent a flux into the fighter's back and watched it dissolve. I charged toward a knight and stabbed into its ribcage. I leapt back away from the zombie. Damn! its still alive!

...Aaaand it's pissed. The knight brought its spear down at me, and I blocked. I was sent rolling across the ground, getting a nice taste of the soil as I went. I coughed and spit, trying to get the dirt out of my mouth.

I saw Brutus get up and charged the knight.

He twirled his spear and yelled " I hope you've finished your prayers!" He smashed through the knight's armor, leaving nothing left. He gave me his hand and helped me get back up. "Don't worry about that, man. It happens to everyone once in a while."

" I have a feeling that before I retire I'll have developed a taste for grass."

I saw a volley of arrows flying toward us. I lifted my hand, using wind to send them over our heads.

I heard a loud, shrill cry from behind us. I looked back and saw Virion with an arrow in his shoulder and in both of his knees. I guess I messed that spell up.

"I've got it!" Lissa yelled, running to heal Virion's wounds.

I looked at Brutus " We will never speak of this."

He nodded and we looked ahead to see Crimson charging at our group.

"Prepare yourselves, assbutts!" She bellowed as she swung wildly at us. I leapt to the right and Brutus went to the left. Luckily, it seemed that neither of us were harmed.

I felt a blood run down my chest. Brutus had some bone peeking from his arm, as well. I guess we were hurt, after all.

Chrom and Khrow charged her, leaping to strike from both sides. She dodged both blows as if the two were moving in slow motion. She raised her blades high, ready to finish them off.

Her strike was blocked by Frederick's lance. The two came apart, locking into a duel between equal forces. Frederick's blows, although powerful enough to crush boulders, were too slow to land a hit on crimson. Crimson's slashes were extremely swift, but they were too weak to pierce Frederick's thick armor. We noticed that Crimson was focusing solely on Frederick. Robin, Miriel, and I launched our rounds of magic. Crimson ducked out of the way, and the magic rounds slammed into Frederick.

The great Knight fell to the ground with a loud metallic clank. I saw his chest moving slightly. He was still alive, but not by much.

"Nice try, dumbasses." Crimson cackled madly.

Chrom and Khrow charged again. Crimson deflected Khrow's strike withe her dagger. With her sword, she disarmed Chrom and left a massive gash in his side.

"Too bad, it seems that the knight was the only threat out of your group." Crimson mocked holding her blade high.

I activated my devil speed and threw a missile of dark energy at Crimson. She tried to dodge, but the speed boost of my trump allowed the attack to graze her leg. She charged at me for a counter attack. I backpedaled and prepared another spell, which hit her knee. Stahl and Sully charged out from behind me, and Crimson's wounds prevented her from avoiding them.

"Bull and Panther" The two yelled in slammed Crimson with the butt of her lance while Stahl bashed her with the flat of his blade. Crimson fell to the ground.

"Aww, that hurts like a bitch! oh well, thanks for that. Who knows what could have happened if I kept on like that." Crimson said, coming to her senses.

Sully raised her lance over crimson. " You're fin- wait what?" she asked, perplexed.

"Oh yeah, most of you guys weren't here when we recruited her." Brutus began. "She does this sometimes in battle when the bloodlust gets to her. She was like this when we met her, although it wasn't as difficult to take her down since we were in a tight space. Kinda feel sorry for the guards though." he explained as if it were a common occurrence.

"And Frederick thought my sister and I were dangerous." Khrow facepalmed.

"Well, we better start treating everyone's wounds. This is going to be a major delay in our trip." Robin sighed.

"Oh, right." Crimson said as she reached into her pouch and pulled out a case full of elixirs. "I was saving these for a time when I needed them or a time when I could use some cash, but I won't last very long out here with a bunch of dead friends. We should be able to get out of here quickly if you all take one."

Soon the entire case was empty, and we were on our way out.

XXXXXXXXX

We were standing in the clearing where Sumia found her pegasus. However the pegasus was not the thing that caught my attention. There was someone sleeping by the tree next to it, and another person ominously slumped in a snowdrift nearby.

Sumia and Lissa took notice, Sumia heading to the tree and Lissa to the snowdrift.

"Hey, you should probably get up before you catch a cold" Sumia said sweetly.

The person, slowly woke up. I got a closer look at the person, now seeing that she was a tallish, thin girl. She had bright red hair and deep blue eyes. Her ears were pointed in what may or may not be a sign of her being another race. She was wearing a white dress, similar to the bride class. However, her dress only went to about knee length and there was light chainmail underneath. She also had rather large- er, her eyes are up there, Kira!

"_I've never heard of a manakete who was that size before!" Shade laughed at my flustered state._

So I was right about her not being human. Hey Shade what class is she?

"_Dragon Maiden- sometimes the dragon is keeping the princess locked up, and sometimes the princess IS the dragon. This class can use both a sword and a dragonstone, and their abilities allow both forms to be equally dangerous."_

"My name is **Dolce Babarego, **it's a pleasure to meet you." The girl said in a sweet voice, although you could still hear the exhaustion in her voice.

"My name is Kira, and it is my pleasure." I said, trying to sound gentlemanly but nervousness betraying my voice.

"It seems that you guys have a nice group built up here. Could I maybe join you? I was on the run from a group of slavers when I came here, so I don't really have anywhere else to go." Dolce looked downcast.

"Well you'll have to talk to Chrom about that..." I began, and Dolce looked ready to cry. "But don't worry! He's very nice, and will take in just about anyone! I'm sure he'll have no problem letting you be part of the team." I finished, cheering her up. As she walked over to him, I let out a sigh. Why do I have to have a weakness for cuteness?

I turned and saw Lissa healing the man in the snowdrift. He jumped up looked at Lissa, then bowed.

"Thank you for your aid, milady. My name is **Derek, **it's a pleasure to meet you." Derek had light brown hair that was parted to the right. His eyes were a mixture of blue and green with a hint of yellow.

"_This guy's a revolutionist_ - _a man who uses swords and knives to over power foes with his speed. You know how your thumbs develop really fast reactions when you play video games. This guy is kinda like that, but with his whole body."_

Derek continued to flirt with Lissa until he noticed Dolce.

"Hey! you're the one who kicked me in the face!" He yelled loudly.

"I thought you were another of those slavers! You scared the hell out of me!" Dolce yelled right back.

The two continued to bicker loudly, and I sweatdropped.

"_At least we have our five man band now, right?"_

That we do, Shade, that we do.

XXXXXXXXX

_Meanwhile, in Plegia_

In the castle court room, a meeting was held between Gangrel and Aversa.

"So where's this new general you were telling me about?" the king asked his advisor inquisitively.

"He'll be here in just a moment, he tends to be purposefully late." as Aversa responded, the throne room's doors opened loudly.

A man walked in through the doors as if it were HIS castle. He had brown hair in a buzz cut and rabbit ears tied into a ponytail. His eyes were a bloodshot red and his skin was pale and wraithlike. He wore an all black ensemble, complete with combat boots and handmade sunglasses tucked in the pocket of his sleeveless leather jacket. He had scars running down his face down to his chin, and another massive one along his chest. His hands were covered in fur and he had light tufts on his chest.

"You! What is a monster like you doing here?" The king asked, unnerved.

"You call me a monster? I'm defending the country while you are bringing it to ruin!"the man exclaimed angrily, before stepping forward. "You made my life Hell for five years, Gangrel, but I'll work with you in order to save Plegia."

" How is a little rabbit like you going to do anything for the sake of Plegia?"

"Well, there is the fact that I'm as strong as you, possibly stronger. There is also the fact that I can do this" the taguel snapped his fingers, and a squadron of risen appeared.

" Those wimpy corpses? They're weaker than conscripts!" Gangrel cackled loudly.

" So you've seen the drek. The base form of these is extremely weak, but these are as powerful as a squad of your elite soldiers." To emphasize this, one of the archers launched an arrow at the king, grazing his ear. " Do you still have any questions?" the taguel asked the king.

"Yes, how the hell am I supposed to trust you?" The king asked incredulously, pointing at the man's ears and the risen behind him.

"Simple, you don't. My duty is to Plegia, not you. If the country is attacked, I will abandon you for the sake of everyone else. If you become a risk to the country, I will finish you off my self." Connor said aggressively, as if he was challenging Gangrel to screw up.

"You insolent mutt! A beast like you has no right to speak that way to the king!" Gangrel was pissed.

The man pressed his blade against Gangrel's throat, drawing blood. "My name is **Connor Price**, now ingrain it into that tiny brain of yours!" Connor screamed angrily.

"You will begin working with us tomorrow." Gangrel squeaked out.

Connor left the room, and Aversa followed him out.

"That wasn't like you." Aversa said to Connor as they walked out.

" I guess that guy just brings it out of me. Why did you decide it was a good idea to choose me for the job any way?" Connor asked nonchalantly.

"Lord Validar felt that you would keep a close eye on him, which is true. However, if you were not a cardinal in the grimleal sect, you would not have gotten away with what you said."

"Relax a little Aversa, you'll shave years off if you keep stressing so much."

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

"Show your worth, brigands!" general Raimi yelled at us. Sumia had just done her fancy rescue scene with Chrom.

Khrow and Robin sorted us into formations and we prepared for battle.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

** Well, this chapter turned out fairly well with the exception of Crimson's point of view. I was planning on doing something like this with every new character, but if the others end up like that I'll start shifting them to 3rd person limited or taking them out completely. We also now have the first antagonist introduction, although he will be one of the last to actually appear in front of the Shepherds. Also, there are going to be three types of risen: Weak but numerous zombie movie risen, normal soldier risen, and uber risen like the dead lords.**

**Thanks for reading, please review! **


	6. Crossing the border

**Hey guys, bet you didn't expect to see me again so soon!**

**On to the reviews!**

**Cormag: I didn't like it as I was writing it for some reason, but when I looked back at it I was glad it turned out the way it did. Also, thanks! I still have a ways to go but I am getting there!**

**Also since I have neglected to put this in the notes sooner, Crimson was created by Cormag Ravenstaff, Derek was made by The emblem of fire, and Dolce and Conner are both the creations of pyrojack25**

**Disclaimer: I will never own Fire Emblem, I only own certain OCs**

**XXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We were in our formations, charging either side. I was in a group with Chrom, Khrow, Frederick, Dolce, Vaike, Virion, and Miriel. Khrow and Robin had decided that our group needed more manpower since Robin's group had our only healer. They had been about to separate Stahl and Sully for good measure before I pointed out Kellam, whose existence everyone had forgotten until that point. Brutus and I were also originally meant to be in each other's group until Khrow switched our positions for 'tactical reasons''. There were two of these reasons, which he whispered in my ear.

"One: Brutus and Derek will end up competing, since they both seem to have a thing for Lissa. Two: I don't trust you to be around Robin without my supervision."

So Khrow is an overprotective older brother, never expected that from him.

"_You can't really blame him, you would be the same in his position. The guy has no memories and Robin is his only known relative. He'll probably calm down as he starts to befriend the others."_

You're probably right about that, Shade. We should probably focus more on what's going on right now.

With that thought, the charge began. There were a few more soldiers than in the game, but not by too much. I was confronted by a myrmidon. We locked blades for a moment before coming apart.

The myrmidon dashed at me, and I quickly activated devil speed. I was met with a swift string of strikes. I managed to parry or dodge the first four, but the last one grazed my chest. It wasn't a major wound, but it's the small ones sting the most. Kind of like how a paper cut hurts like a bitch but a gash running down your hand only throbs a little. I quickly jabbed my blade into the myrmidon's ribcage, taking him out quickly and easily.

How the hell did a regular myrmidon already know Astra?

" _Ferox units are sort of a mix between the normal and lunatic difficulties. They only have the stats from normal mode but they have some insane skills."_

Great, just great. Three fighters surrounded me, and the only one remotely close was Dolce. I leapt into the air as they attempted to spam luna.

As I landed, I prepared my flux tome to pick them off. However, it seemed this task was already covered.

I watched as Dolce charged at one of the fighters and lashed out with her sword, slicing through him easily. Another threw his hand axe at her from behind. Her ear twitched, and she turned and dodged. The axe managed a glancing blow on her shoulder, but other than that it really didn't do Jack. She charged at the instigator and rammed her blade into the man's gut.

An unknown force launched a javelin at the third burying it in the fighter's neck. How did- oh right, Kellam.

How did Dolce manage to get here so fast? Also how did she take those guys out so easily?

"_Why it's elementary my dear Watson, it's an ability of hers. Dragonheart- it allows her to use half of her dragonstone boost even while she retains human form. That stat boost actually makes her stronger than you for the moment. You could easily outspeed her but she probably wouldn't even need to block your attacks."_

That is amazing actually, it's like we have a tank that can fly.

"_We pretty much do."_

"Hey, why is Virion up so close to the front line? Doesn't that break just about every rule of strategy?" Dolce asked, making a very good point.

"Well," Dammit Kellam don't scare me like that! "When you are being backed by a group of elite soldiers like them- and Vaike, of course- you don't really need to worry about having up close attacks so you can just let loose with the bolts of death."

" Hey guys we have the door key!" Chrom yelled excitedly.

"That means you need to get your lazy asses over here!" Khrow finished mockingly.

I looked up at the roof of the castle. Now that we have our side cleared this shouldn't be too dangerous.

"I have an idea." I said to Dolce.

"Are we gonna fly?" Dolce asked, following my eyes.

"Yep." I grinned.

Dolce's necklace began to glow and her form shifted. She was now a black, scaly dragon with glowing green eyes. Her wings were leathery, with a pink tint on the edges.

"What the hell? Did that chick just turn into a freaking DRAGON?" Khrow asked incredulously. Oh yeah, I'm the only one who knew she was a manakete.

"Wow, a manakete! I've heard countless stories about them, but they are nothing compared to the real deal. I never thought that I would get the chance to see one in my lifetime." Chrom was absolutely awestruck, which really was only to be expected, considering the circumstances.

I jumped on her back as she took flight. "Let's climb! Excelsior!"

"_You're having a lot of fun with this aren't you"_

You know it.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Derek pov_

As we reached the horde of enemies, I used my trump to prep myself up for battle. It was an ability called repent, a skill that boosted my vitality by a quarter of its maximum, but saps my strength for a couple of minutes. It wasn't a major difference, but the backlash wasn't as bad as other trumps tended to be, and the benefit lasted for the full battle.

"_Too bad it can almost pass as a normal skill."_

Shut up Kirito. That's one of its advantages, it seems like a regular old skill so only someone with a tacticians eyes would notice the difference.

"_I still wish it was something awesome like fire breathing or laser beams."_

Yeah, great idea. I'd probably get lynched because everyone thought I was a demon or something.

"_So the hipster wants to be mainstream now?"_

Just shut up Kirito.

The first enemies were coming at us, and the strength decline had already faded.

An archer launched an arrow, which I dodged . I quickly grabbed a throwing knife from my belt and tossed blade buried itself into the archer's shoulder. He certainly wasn't dead, but he would have some trouble shooting for a while.

In a blur of red and black, Crimson stole the archer's wallet then slit his throat.

"Hey, you better buy me some dinner with that later." I said jokingly.

"I won't treat you to anything, but I might give you a cut if you give me some sugar." Crimson said teasingly. I felt heat rising in my cheeks at that statement. "I meant candy, dumbass!" Crimson joked, rapping me lightly on the head. "But seriously though, I will pay you a ton for some candy. Candy is my life force."

"Duly noted" I said as I charged a knight in front of me. I leapt onto his shoulders, sinking my dagger in his shoulder for grip, then kicked off towards a mercenary in front of me. I rolled then kicked onto my feet, parrying his strike using my dagger before bringing my blade around to finish him off. I always had pretty good reflexes, but now I had some freaking Assassin's Creed reflexes.

I heard a loud clank and turned to see Brutus with his spear piercing through the knight's skull. "It looks like we've got one each, we should probably hurry before Robin fries the rest of them." He said with a competitive grin.

I took a handful of knives and threw them at a fighter. They may have some tough defenses but not nearly enough to handle three knives in the back.

Brutus charged at an archer, deflecting an arrow as he went. He brutally smashed the bow, before knocking him over and bringing his spear down on him.

I dashed towards a mage, narrowly dodging a fireball that singed my thing this world gives clothes a healing factor, otherwise I would need to buy a new one. I shoved my blade into the mage's tome, and brought my dagger down onto the mage.

We both came to the same barbarian. Brutus struck with his spear, only to be blocked. The barbarian proceeded to attack me. He charged at me with a luna that I was unable to avoid. I had an axe stuck pretty deep in there. I brought my dagger up and rammed it in the barbarian's throat as Brutus came up and slammed his spear into the man's back.

If it wasn't for my trump, I would be dead right now. What now, Kirito?

"_Save your gloating for later, Derek."_

Lissa came up and healed us. "Ugh, what am I going to do with you two? You better not make this a habit."

I looked at Brutus. "I guess we should call that three and a half each."

Brutus held his fist out. "Sounds good to me."

We fistbumped eachother before getting up.

"Hurry up, you couple of pansies! We already have the key!"Sully exclaimed in her oh so tactful manner.

We walked to the door, and the last thing we saw before we entered was a dragon flying towards the roof. Wait, what?

XXXXXXXXXXXX

_Dolce pov_

As I flew up to the top of the fort, I reveled in the feeling of flight. The wind flowed through my wings, relieving the shoulder cramps that manakete get when they don't fly enough. In the two months I had been in Ylisse, my cramps had grown to be a major problem. I couldn't use this form very often, or I would have captured the attention of slavers much sooner than they had. I shuddered at the thought of what would have happened to me if I were caught.

As I reached the roof, I let out a spray of emerald green fire.

"_Yes, that's right! Burn them! Burn them all! Mwahahaha!"_

Why do you have to be so violent, Maleficent? I'm only doing these things because they are necessary for our survival. These people probably have families worrying about them back home! Battle is really just a quick way to waste a lot of lives. In a more peaceful world, these men could have been great farmers or cobblers or, well, anything really.

"_Those sound like extremely boring choices of occupation if you ask me."_

Well I wasn't asking you, was I little miss bloodlust?

As I landed on the roof, a mercenary tried to charge and attack me. I casually batted him away, sending him on a drop to his death.

I felt Kira leap off of my back, and watched as he quickly finished off two slightly crispy shadows before vanishing into the shadows.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I rushed forward, charging dark energy through my body to shadow travel to Raimi. I felt myself begin to slip through the shadows and-

I missed by a long shot. I went over the edge of the roof, barely managing to latch on to the side as I fell. While I might be able to survive the fall from here, it was very doubtful. The staircase up was nearby, just too far for me to fling myself there.

"_Maybe if we channel some magic, we can make the jump."_

So we're going to fix a problem caused by magic by using even more magic?

"_Why not, it seems like a fine plan to me."_

Ugh great. Oh well, there aren't really any other options, are there?

XXXXXXXX

_Dolce pov_

I shifted into my human form and charged at a soldier, taking him down. While my human form isn't as strong as my dragon form, it's a lot easier to avoid attacks when you aren't the size of a barn.

I struck a few more, noticing that their numbers were thinning out. I guess it's to be expected, they probably can't handle having strong fighting forces attacking from three points. Granted, I wasn't a major fighting force by myself, but that doesn't matter when the opposition is slightly charred.

I finished off the last of my enemies and heard a voice a few meters away.

"Fine, I believe you. I surrender." Raimi's voice rang out calmly.

I turned around and saw that Chrom and Khrow had their blades pointing at the knight. Brutus and Frederick held their lances high over her head. Derek had a knife at her back while Crimson held one against the knight's throat. Miriel and Robin had their magic prepared to blast her with if needed. Despite all of this, Raimi was calm.

Wait, where's Kira? My question was answered as the man limped onto the roof, cuts covering his body. They looked kind of like.

"You look kind of _winded_, Kira." Crimson chuckled.

Lissa rushed hurriedly to heal him.

"Don't worry about me, it's merely a flesh wound!" Kira said.

"Yeah right! I've seen arcfire wounds that looked better than this, now lay down so I can heal you!" Lissa said as she forced Kira to lay down.

"I'll help you out!" I said as I walked over to them and pulled out a vulnerary.

"Okay Dolce, apply some here, here, and her." The princess said, pointing out the points where the wounds were the deepest.

"Hey Crimson, do you have anything I can borrow? I have a least a little first aid sill and would like to help." Robin asked.

"Sure zaps" Crimson tossed a concoction "I don't have any more elixirs, so if that isn't enough you'll just have to rub a little salt in there."

"Wait, zaps?" Robin seemed curious.

"It's a nickname, she gives them to people fairly often."

"Yep, Chrom here's moneybags and Lissa's goldilocks."Crimson said heartily.

"that's good to know I guess." Robin looked confused. "I guess I should get to business."

Lissa pointed out places for Robin to apply the concoction and she joined us.

"You should feel lucky Kira." General Raimi said " You have three lovely ladies caring for you." I saw Kira's face grow slightly red at this.

" Oh the things I would give to be in your place right now!" Virion exclaimed. Kira's face reddened a little more.

" I agree, you should feel very lucky," Chrom chuckled " Just remember that my sister is off-limit. Kira glowed even redder, Lissa just began to giggle.

" You better not try anything with my sister!" Khrow exclaimed. Kira's face grew to a shade of red I didn't think existed while Robins own cheeks took a pink tint.

By the time we had finished treating Kira, his scarlet face put even the brightest of tomatoes to shame.

Lissa couldn't hold in her laughter "Oh gods! his face is so red, this is amazing!" Lissa cackled and banged her fist against the floor in a fit of laughter, finding an almost unhealthy amount of humor in Kira's expression.

"Ahem," Frederick cleared his throat loudly, silencing Lissa. "I believe we should head to Ferox now, since Kira has recovered."

We all stood up to follow him, making a trek to the Khan's home.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

We went through the conversation about the arena battle, although there seemed to be a change from the content of the game.

" You can send your men to help, and I'll give you our support should we win." Khan Flavia began. "However, we already have a champion whose orders you'll have to follow. The team will also be made from his choice of your men."

As if he had sensed what was happening, a cloaked man opened the door to the throne room and strode calmly in.

The man wore the hood of his black cloak so that it shielded his face from outside view. The cloak had the symbol of naga marked on it in a dark navy blue.

The man took off his hood. He had black hair that reached around his chin. His bangs, cut just above his brown eyes, had a long silver streak running down them. A long, thin scar lined his cheek.

"My name is **Soren**, I am the champion of this side of Ferox as well as the man who will decide which of you will join in the tournament." Soren looked at our group with intense eyes before making his decision. He pointed at Chrom, Dolce, Brutus, Derek, and finally, me.

"Personally, I would have liked to bring the redheaded rogue with us as well." Soren said calmly "But rogues are at their best in times when they are either outnumbered or are outnumbering the opponent. Their talents aren't nearly as useful in one one one fights, like our tournament. Too bad we can only have six people."

What's with this guy anyway?

"_I can't tell you much, even I'm at a loss here, he isn't one of us and yet he has a class that no longer exists in this world. The only thing I CAN tell you is that he's a magus- The sister class to the tactician. An extremely wise strategist who has fought for years under one banner. Truly the greatest advisor any ruler can have. This class was once commonly seated next to every ruler in this world, but the practice disappeared a few centuries before Marth's time."_

"Now there is quite a while until the tournament so you should spend your free time however you wish." Soren stated nonchalantly.

"Hey! We can check this place out! Let's go see what Ferox has to offer!" Derek said excitedly.

"That sounds like a good idea! I'll join you guys.

XXXXXXXXX

Chrom had opted out of our excursion while Crimson joined in to 'fill the gap'. I think she just didn't want to be the only of us who wasn't going. That, or she figured she could raid some of the stalls. It was probably the latter, actually.

We were walking along the alleys when we reached an intersection. There were two paths we could take from here.

Suddenly, a figure jumped from one of the roofs. The man was wearing a strange green cloak with several rune-like markings. He held a strange looking staff that had a blade sticking from the side. The man had blue hair, similar to Chrom's. His left eye was silver and his right was a lustrous gold.

"My name is **Aquila, **nice to meet you. I've been waiting to see your group for a rather long time now."

"_Kira, take your group and run right now. You guys don't stand a chance against him, even with 6-on-1 odds. You might have been able to take him on if it wasn't for the fact that he has the perfect trump. It's called supreme guard- It exponentially increases his defence, resistance, and vitality. On top of that, he doesn't have to give jack shit in return. His class is a shaman- a versatile mage who uses anima magic as well as ancient druid magic. Fire, lightning, and wind? Check. Shapeshifting, illusions, and familiars? Also check. This guy has a million tricks up his sleeve."_

"Oh, and in case you guys were thinking of leaving" Aquila snapped his fingers, causing risen to fill the exits.

"I'll take this path! you guys figure out how to distribute the rest!"

Soren said as he charged to face one of the hordes alone.

A blur of blue came by, followed by a multitude of others. Suddenly, Lucina was standing alongside every 2nd gen shepherd showed in-game, with the exception of Morgan of course. The each wore a mask similar to those of Lucina and also seemed to be two that I did not recognize.

"It looks like you guys are in need of some help." Lucina stated the obvious.

"It seems that recent events have taken an unexpected turn." Aquila said with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Let's see how you fare against my Grima granted power!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**And now we finally get to see one of Grima's servants in action. This guy's concept was one of the first things I thought up with this story. His trump is actually probably the only thing that stayed the same throughout planning, while basically everything else about him has been altered dramatically. **

**And then we have Soren, who was originally from a different fic idea altogether. Somewhere through the planning process this guy wormed his way into my mind again and actually gave me some ideas for other future craziness.**

**See you guys next time! Please leave a review, they're always fun to read!**


	7. First Contact

**Review answer corner:**

**Cormag:Yeah, Soren's definitely one of the more interesting characters of this cast, although there is one thing you may not lie about him later on. *Laughs evilly***

**Yes! Kira's the black knight "I'm invincible!"**

**Note: The future children won't all completely follow their in-game characters, and changes may vary based on circumstances.**

**Said circumstances mainly consist of:**

**A)The father's character being incorporated slightly. If a child's father was Henry he/she would act much differently from if the father was Gaius.**

**B) Interactions with a character that wasn't in the game's storyline. Your friends can greatly affect your personality over time.**

**C) I may simply be awful at writing said character.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem, I only own certain OCs**

**XXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

"Okay, where should we begin?" Lucina asked herself thoughtfully. It seemed that Aquila was going to let us sit and think things through, every path was calm with the exception of the one Soren was in.

"Well, our friend Soren is in there-" As I said this, a loud roaring sound rang out and a small number of blue sparks could be seen.

"Yep, that's Soren alright." Lucina giggled lightly. "I doubt we need to worry about him. He is possibly the strongest of our number and there aren't nearly as many risen down that path. Let's see, **Heathcliff, Mikasa, **you two stay here to take on Aquila."

Wow, anime references, they _definitely _don't sound like fake names to me. Heathcliff, who was a woman despite the name, wore red plate armor fitting her fake name, if only she had a giant shield to go with it. She had a sword sheathed at her side, as well as a spear and an axe crossed on her back. Her mask was placed firmly in lock with her helmet, making it look like a visor.

Mikasa, who DID retain her namesake's gender, wore a worn black cloak with leather armor attached to it. She had a sheathed sword and a pouch full of tomes, among which were an elthunder and a nosferatu. Her mask completely covered her face, but one could still see her long black hair.

Shade, give me some stats on these guys.

"_I'm sorry Kira, something is keeping me from detecting their classification, maybe their masks are enchanted or something."_

"Okay, I'll take, Gerome, Inigo, Owain, and Brady and head down this path. Laurent, you take the others and head the other way."Lucina said, finally completing her plan.

It seemed that she wasn't going to bother using fake names for them, she must have figured some of us already knew who they were.

"And why is HE the leader? I'm the strongest one in my group!" Severa exclaimed indignantly.

"Severa, strength isn't everything." Lucina began to grow exasperated. "You have the sharpest blade of anyone in your group, yes, but Laurent has the sharpest mind. You are admittedly good at thinking up plans when given time, but Laurent is capable of using tactics under pressure. He also gets more time to think since he mainly fights at a range." Lucina stated, making a sound argument. Who the hell taught her tactics? Something seems off about her, but I'm not quite sure what it is.

I just now noticed that Laurent is wearing a dark mage outfit. That is either great or terrible, not quite sure which.

"Okay, Shepherds! Let's move out!" Lucina shouted and the battle began.

XXXXXXX

_Lucina pov_

As I fought the risen, there were several thoughts running through my mind.

I wish that Soren was still travelling with us., I thought as we charged in. He would have been able to make a better plan in a shorter time, and not even Severa would have questioned it. I can lead extremely well, but I can't figure out how to save our friends should something happen. Not only was he my tactician, but my best friend. When I lost my father, he was the one to console me. I had lost my father, but my mother was still there. Both of Soren's parents, on the other hand, were dead. I should have been the one comforting him, and yet he was the one holding me up. Through every trial we faced, he was always right there with me. Now that he had left, it felt like I was missing a part of myself.

"I came in," Gerome began "Like a wrecking ball!" he bellowed out as he slammed his hammer into a knight with a loud clank. Even Gerome couldn't seem to stay completely stoic. All the guys occasionally let out one liners like this.

It had all started when Kira showed us the stereo and television, back when we were still barely able to reach his knees. It was an invention that he and two other shepherds had put together, bringing elements from another world entirely. They never showed it to the other shepherds, as the others knew nothing of their world. They had, however, decided it was okay for us to know about the other world.

"My name is Inigo Montoya," Inigo began his own catchphrase as he charged at a cavalier"and you killed my father, prepare to die!". Well, if he says that to every risen he sees, he will eventually get it right.

"For Sparta!" Owain yelled as he sliced through a fighter. I swear these guys are crazy, but they are my friends.

"Why don't you join us, dear cousin? We never get to hear your battle cries!" Owain yelled, looking at me expectantly.

"Fine" I sighed. I rushed towards a rather tall mercenary. "Seid ihr das Essen? Nein, wir sind der Jaeger!" I yelled as I leaped up, severing the risen's head from its body.

I looked around, seeing that there were no remaining enemies.

"You guys could have saved some ass for me to kick." Brady said with mock seriousness.

"There were barely enough of them to even make a good show!" Inigo stated arrogantly, although with a hint of truth. The battle wasn't exactly that hard.

"There weren't nearly enough foes to satisfy my swordhand!" Owain exclaimed angrily.

"It was a fair fight, I suppose." Gerome said, in his usual blank persona.

"I guess we should head back." I told them as I turned away.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov._

Aquila began his fight using only his staff. one man against seven, it seemed that we had good odds but I wasn't going to underestimate him.

The people who knew magic, which was limited to me and Mikasa, stayed back and launched our rounds.

Brutus and Heathcliff were at the fore of the battle, since they could take a hit better than the the rest of us.

Dolce, Crimson, and Derek were at mid-range in order to slide in, strike, and get out quickly.

Brutus charged at Aquila, who blocked the strike with the spear end of his staff. Derek charged for a follow up, but Aquila pushed away and swung the gem end of his staff, raising a pillar of earth. Derek barely managed to dodge, pulling a dagger and throwing it at Aquila. The dagger hit Aquila's neck and bounced off, barely drawing blood.

Mikasa launched a blast of dark energy at him that hit him but didn't really do any damage other than a tiny scratch.

This cycle continued for a few minutes before Aquila broke away from the group.

Luckily it seemed that no one had any major wound, although we each had a few grazes or burns here and there.

Aquila looked as if he had been scratched a few times by a cat rather than attacked continuously with an array of weapons.

"You guys are stronger than I expected, it looks like I'll get to have a little fun here!"

There was a bright flash of light, and when it faded we were faced with a giant land octopus where Aquila used to be.

"It's time for round 2!" Squealed the shrill voice of Squid-quila.

XXXXXXX

_Soren pov_

I ran towards the risen, shadow traveling behind the first row to get the jump on them. It was a trick I sucked at when I first tried it, but Kira had urged me to practice it until I had mastered the skill. Over the years the technique had become my favorite way to start a battle.

I held out my blade, and allowed a fire to begin roaring inside of me. My entire body, as well as my blade lit in a bright blue flame. Sword magic was a talent I had picked up early on in my training. It wasn't exceedingly rare for a dark knight or tactician to develop such a skill, but with Kira's training I became the first man in history to learn to use the technique with multiple branches of magic. I could use it with any form of magic, other than light magic, even attempting to use light magic would probably incinerate my insides. The blue tint to my flames was an annoying detail that no one could find a reason behind.

One of the risen stared at me and let out a single moan. "Master."

I immediately launched a blast of blue fire at the risen, leaving it in a heap of ash. I then proceeded to do the same to those that still remained. In a matter of minutes, all the risen were gone, replaced by mountains of ash.

The risen must have sniffed out the fact that I was a fell blood. There was also the possibility that it sensed traces of my father's power coming off of my blade.

My sword was a simple silver blade that once belonged to my father, Khrow. After Grima took over him and my aunt and killed Chrom, he plunged the blade into the corpse. The man told the shepherds to take the blade with them as a reminder of who it was they were fighting, before enchanting it with a tiny portion of his power. Grima then proceeded to kill my mother and uncle before leaving to take Morgan and Mark, my sister and my cousin, to train as his own.

When I found out about the event, I vowed to defeat Grima myself. As soon as I was able to hold a sword, I asked Kira to train me. He taught me everything that I know now, tempering my abilities as if I were a blade in the forge. When I had come of age he gave me this blade. He had it forge to be unbreakable, knowing that one day I would wield it into battle. He had dubbed the blade Clarent, the coward's blade. He told me of a similar story from his world of a man who had betrayed his king with the blade that was used in knighting ceremonies.

A few months later, I went into my first battle along with the other five shepherds who had come of age that year. Kira had told us that everything would be fine, and that things were looking up with all the prodigies who had come through in the year. That was the day that Kira fell in battle. Each of the shepherds of that year keep a fragment of yamikiri with them in honor of the care he had given us.

I never told any of my friends that I was the child of Grima. They all knew that my father was Khrow, but no one had the heart to let them know that he was a part of Grima. I knew that none of the others would judge me for it, but I was so afraid to tell them the truth. I even wore a glove constantly so that no one would see Grima's mark branded on my hand.

When we came to the time I split up from Lucina, telling her that my task was something I had to do alone. I felt like I didn't deserve the company of the shepherds, every one of them lost everything because of my father. All I could possibly do is end up passing on my terrible bloodline. I left the person I cared for the most in tears because I couldn't face the truth. I truly was a horrible person, wasn't I.

I should just stop wallowing in self loathing and go help the others already.

XXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

Squid-Quila's tentacles took up most of the alley way. Rather than using a decisive strategy to find openings, we were now opting to just go all out. Mikasa had pulled out a dagger for optional defence and lit her sword with the aura of dark magic, who knew sword magic was a thing?

Heathcliff was now swapping between each of her weapons, moving in a vicious dance of blades.

Brutus was above the creature, launching volley after volley of javelins.

Crimson was reaching in her pouch, throwing every dagger she could find.

Derek was in a sword-and-dagger stance, while Dolce was using her sword in an attempt to bat Aquila's appendages away.

"I guess I'll have to go all out." Dolce said as her entire body was enveloped in a bright green glow.

The glow faded, and she stood there, now covered in full black scales. Her eyes were now a bright green and small wings protruded from her back.

"_It seems her trump is draconic resonance- It allows her to utilize double the full boost of her dragonstone, but it seems she'll suffer a stat decrease afterwards."_

Aquila quickly struck at Dolce, but she lifted her blade and cut the tentacle in half. She charged in, bursting through Aquila's defences. She struck wildly, managing to leave three gashes before reverting to her original form.

With a puff of smoke, Aquila reverted to his original robes were now tattered and he had some minor wounds, but other than that he was perfectly fine.

"My," Aquila began as his face took on a rather deranged look "isn't your little group just full of surprises? I guess I'll get to flex my muscles a bit." Aquila let out a chuckle that turned into an a cackle as the wind next to him shifted into the shape of a human.

"Say hello to my familiar, I believe it's about time for you to become acquainted."

XXXXXXXXX

_Laurent pov_

"Kjelle, Nah, you go up front and tank. Cynthia, Severa, and Yarne, cover melee dps."I

began my plan.

"But I could get killed in the melee, my species would go extinct!" Yarne interjected.

"You'll die anyway if you just sit there and let the damn risen eat you." I stated calmly.

"And before there are more complaints, Noire and I will cover you all from a range. Now charge!"

The battle began very smoothly. Kjelle blocked an axe strike from one of the risen. Severa leapt over her and pierced the head of the risen before charging to take down another. While she did not necessarily have the natural ability of her mother, she certainly had the determination to surpass her some day.

Nah launched orbs of flame at the risen, leaving them singed around the edges.

Cynthia threw javelins, raining hell down from the skies while Yarne decimated the risen from the land.

Noire launched arrows at a breakneck speed, taking them out with ease.

I launched rounds of dark and fire magic, obliterating many and incinerating others. Sadly, the horde was reduced to nothing in a short amount of time.

"Let's go help the others." I said in a commanding tone.

"Who the hell put you in charge?" Severa asked angrily.

"Lucina did, of course. Are you by chance suffering from amnesia?" I retorted.

"Fine, let's go." She replied, and we headed towards the center.

XXXXXXXXX

Kira pov

We were being absolutely demolished. Aquila's familiar moved with such a speed that it took six of us to even keep up, let alone corner it. Even worse, the damn thing seemed to share in Aquila's juggernaut defences. We each had a collection of gashes along our entire bodies.

"It seems that this is all you have to offer, and here I was hoping for you to push me to my limits." Aquila sighed before snapping his fingers. His familiar rushed forward before unleashing an immense blast of wind that brought us to the ground.

Aquila stepped forward "Now which one of you should I kill first? Master Grima already said the one with the rapier was off limits, but anyone else is still game. Oh, I know!" He flicked his wrist, sending his familiar to Dolce. "You were a pretty big nuisance, and I doubt master would care about your passing."

Suddenly, a gleaming arrow embedded itself in the familiar, causing it to disperse. Aquila let out a scream, holding a palm to his head as blood gushed from his nose and ears.

_"Holy arrows? But they can only be made through alchemy, which has been gone for centuries! Who the hell made that thing? Anyway, that arrow was built to disable shaman magic and debilitate the shaman using it. He can still use his staff and anima magic, but those aren't his specialties and he isn't in good fighting condition."_

Two figures leapt down from a rooftop near the battlefield.

One, obviously the shooter from earlier, wore a mottled green cloak. He had the hood pulled over his head and the cowl covering his face. In addition to this, he had lenses blocking any view of his eyes. The only feature one could see was a faint hint of blue hair. He was holding a steel bow and had a killing edge sheathed at his sides.

The other seemed to be a taguel in swordmaster armor. Fur peeked out from the arm guards and his claws visibly wrapped around his blades. Rather than the multitude of blades that other swordmasters tended to have, he settled for what seemed to be a daito and shoto, signifying that he used the typical Chon'sin style of fighting. He wore a leather mask covering his face as well as a blindfold. His ear could still be seen, tied back to avoid having any issues during combat.

Any details, Shade?

_"Nope, same as the two from earlier. It seems masks are my one true weakness."_

"It seems that I have a few more victims to have fun with. What are your names?" Despite the situation, Aquila seemed pleased. The man truly was as mad as a hatter.

"Call me **Will Treaty.**" The one in the cloak replied with his fake name.

"And I'm **Billy Joel**." The taguel said. Really, that's your alias?

Suddenly, the future children came rushing in through the alleyways.

"Okay, not even I am bloodthirst enough to attempt a fight like this." Aquila pulled out a crystal-like item and began talking into it. "**Koto**, get me the hell outta here!" And just like that, Aquila disappeared in a flash of light.

Lucina turned Soren. "Soren, I need to talk to-" The man slipped into the darkness and ran off.

"I need you here, dammit." Lucina said in a weak whisper.

Severa placed a hand on Lucina's shoulder. "It'll be fine Lucina, we'll make it without him"

"But am I strong enough to lead you by myself?"

"You practically raised some of us, I'm pretty sure you can handle anything. Remember our promise? We'll all defeat Grima together, and if Soren doesn't like it he can kiss all of our asses!"

Lucina smiled faintly "Thank you, Severa."

XXXXXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

"It's so cozy in here when the annoying people are gone." I said happily as I sat in the grimleal headquarters.

"_People_? I thought you only hated the one." Koto said. Despite being the oldest of Grima's servants, she looked as if she was a little kid. She had orange hair tied into pigtails and yellow eyes. She wore yellow overalls which further amplified her young appearance along with orange boots and black knee high socks. She seemed rather innocent until she decided to burn you alive.

"Well I don't mind Conner when he isn't planning a coup against Gangrel. I'm really just glad that the yaoi fangirl is off training the recruits, it's so much quieter without her."

"I can't blame you for that one. Oh, right, Validar told me something interesting while you were gone." Koto giggled.

"What is it?" I asked inquisitively.

"He said it will only be a couple months at most before we get to make our move."

**XXXXXXX**

**Welp, one chapter and a thousand references later, and we're here. I was originally going to have the arena tournament in it, but I got sidetracked by exposition. I'm probably going to skip the arena and give a recap on it in the next chapter, since the only plot point happening at the time is Lucina showing off her falchion. The next chapter is going to be fun to write. *Maniacal laughter***

** Anyway, see you next time!**


	8. Retired

**Review answer corner!**

**Cormag: Yes! Fear the wrath of Squid-Quila! Mwahahaha!**

**Ace: Yep, and the references will only get worse with time.**

**Gerome's quote actually came to me once when I started thinking**

**of things Batman would never say.**

**Simetra:Holy shit, someone actually caught the Ranger's Apprentice **

**reference! **

**Now, for a recap of the characters introduced so far:**

**Kira**

**age: 19 (this fic takes place 3 years from now, so I may mention things I'm excited for in his pov, such as the Attack on Titan movie that's in production, or Dragon Age Inquisition)**

**trump:Devil speed( 2x speed and skill, ½ def and res)**

**Brutus**

**Age:24**

**trump: Exhausting strike(Guaranteed crit in exchange for half of remaining health)**

**Crimson**

**Age: 23**

**trump: Insanity(doubles all stats but loses ability to distinguish friend from foe.**

**Derek:**

**Age: 18**

**trump:Repent(+25% health, -3 str)**

**Dolce**

**age:16**

**Trump: Draconic resonance(Doubles dragonstone boost, but gives a stat decline afterwards)**

**The villains thus far:**

**Aquila**

**Age:20**

**Trump: Supreme guard(Massive boost to defences, no drawback)**

**Conner**

**Age:27**

**Koto**

**Age:28 **

**Future children:**

**Soren**

**Age: 21**

**Others(Only aliases are known so far, no names, no nothing.)**

**Mikasa**

**Heathcliff**

**Will Treaty**

**Billy Joel**

**Note: Koto was created by Bunri**

**Disclaimer: I will never be rich enough to own even a part of Fire Emblem**

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

We charged into the burning village filled with plegian foot soldiers. As far as the others knew, we were on survey duty. Nothing could have made them suspect the truth, that we were in the middle of the event that would start the second plegian war. Alongside me were Crimson, Brutus, Derek, Dolce, and Maribelle.

The soldiers were very weak, Gangrel was trying to start a war, not end it, so he didn't need to send a particularly strong force after us. Hell, Maribelle was managing a few kills, and she was strictly a healer.

If Soren was here, he probably would be able to take these guys out by himself. That guy was insanely powerful. Back in the arena, while the rest of us barely managed to defeat our foes, he had no trouble whatsoever with our own. When we finished, he even gave us a look that seemed to scream 'What the hell took you guys so long? I had time to leave, get dinner, and come back in the time it took you to get finished.'.

Oh hey, they're sending some actual muscle now, I should probably focus more. I activated devil speed to overwhelm them. There isn't much one can do about an opponent that is too fast for him or her to hit. There is the fact that anything more than a graze has a decent chance to kill me, however, so I had to be careful. The soldiers still weren't an extreme threat, since they still weren't sending their A game.

Out of nowhere, a troop of higher ranking soldiers came through. Along with help from their weaker counterparts, they quickly and easily overtook us. I felt a large blow from behind, and everything faded to black.

XXXXXXXXX

I awoke inside a dingy, ash covered cell. There was barely any light peeking through the cracks in the wall, causing the already dim room to take on an even more monochrome appearance. The guard seemed to take notice of my waking, and turned towards me. He took a step forward and… walked right through the bars? What the hell?

The guard's clothing and overall appearance seemed to stick out against the gray of the cell. He had brown skin, and wore a brown leather ensemble with the exception of his hooded blue cloak. He seemed very young for a soldier, in fact there was no way he was older than, say, fifteen or so.

The guard had a lance strapped to his back, and held a plate of food out in front of him. Under his cloak he had my sword and tome bag.

He kneeled down and gave me the plate. "Eat up, you'll need to be at full strength for whatever crazy plan you have in mind."

I graciously took the plate and began to eat ravenously. " So you're helping us? " I asked between gulps.

"Hey. not so loud!" The man whispered exasperatedly. "But yeah, I'm helping you. My name is **Martin Cear**, by the way." He took his lance and weakened the chains at my wrists. "It would be a good idea to give you a fighting chance."

"Well , I'm gonna need my weapons to stand any chance." I said with a deadpan.

"I was getting to that!" He said, pulling out my weapons. "Let's see where we can hide these."

Martin helped me find places to conceal my weapons, then left to help the others.

XXXXXXXXX

_Martin pov_

After hours of waiting here, the shepherds came. If the game is truly accurate, then Ricken should be here in a few minutes. It took these guys long enough.

"_At least you got more than enough time to prepare, we'll get to see what your trump can really do now."_

You have a fair enough point, Ray.

Ricken came bursting in in to save Maribelle, and the others used the opportunity to break free of their chains and grab their weapons.

Aversa raised her hand and launched a flux at us. I jumped in front of the blast, taking its full force.

Dust flew up around us, and when it cleared, Aversa saw that we were all perfectly fine.

"_That's our stabilize for you: The longer we sit still the more our defence and resistance increase. After sitting for hours like we did, it becomes extremely sturdy."_

The others came out from behind me, attacking Aversa. The woman was an extremely skilled flier, but if you take away her mount the strength and magic will be her only decent stats.

Kira, Brutus, and Derek surrounded her, striking continuously. They managed a few decent blows and were backing her into a corner.

Aversa reached into her pouch for a better weapon, only to find that the contents were gone.

Crimson stood there, holding a bolting tome that she tossed to Robin. "Here ya go, feathers."

Robin caught it and looked to Khrow. "Tie her up, we'll interrogate her at the castle."

Aversa lifted her hand to cast flux, but Robin stopped her, holding up the bolting. "You know, this thing was made to attack enemies from far away. I wonder what it would do if it was fired from point blank range. I'm sure the results would be absolutely beautiful."

Aversa gulped audibly at this. "That's my sister." Khrow said with a smirk as he pulled out the restraints.

Soldiers came pouring through the ravine next to the battlefield. I ran to the fore. "I got these guys, you go ahead."

As far as physical abilities go, I'm only as strong as the average soldier. Despite this, my trump allows me to fight multiple enemies. Numbers don't matter all that much when you practically have armor for skin.

XXXXXXXXXX

_Crimson pov_

As I went after my opponents, I saw that we had two new recruits, one of which was a very familiar face.

"Crimson! How've you been? You have anything to sell me? I recently got an order of your favorite chocolates!" Anna said as she fought off a few soldiers with ease.

"I've been doing pretty good. Yep, I managed to steal some awesome stuff! The normal discount applies to the sweets, right? Who's the other newbie anyway?"

"We'll talk prices later. That's Donnel, he was at a village that was attacked by brigands when Brutus's squad found him."

"_Are you gonna ask how the hell she knows who Brutus is?"_

No, the Annas know everyone in the halidom, even if you don't know the Anna's.

"So, how's the family?"

"Pretty good, my sister got married last month."

"The one near ferox?"

"Yep, that one. The guy speaks in an accent I've never heard anywhere else and carries a massive shield. When the store is attacked, he often throws the thing at them and calls himself 'Captain Canada' whatever that's supposed to be."

"He sounds interesting."

"Yeah, people like him are the reason I love family reunions."

A barbarian jumped out of nowhere and tried to attack Anna, but Derek rushed from out of nowhere and severe barbarian's axe hand from his body.

"Need a hand." He said, winking at Anna.

XXXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

I charged through the group, with Lon'qu and Brutus by my side. I dashed through the crowd along with Lon'qu, swiftly eliminating the opposition with our overwhelming speed.

Brutus threw a javelin that embedded itself in the neck of the leader.

"That's all of them, looks like we can l-" Brutus paused, frozen in shock at what he was looking at.

I followed my gaze to see Frederick locked in battle with an enemy soldier, a taguel to be specific.

"_Isn't Panne supposed to be the only living Taguel? Unless- Oh shit we have to get down there NOW!"_

Using devil speed to get there as quickly as possible, I rushed towards the fight.

"You fight well, what is your name?" Frederick said to the man.

"I'm Conner Price, and the same to you, good sir." The taguel said.

He seems abnormally strong for a normal footsoldier.

"_Well that's only to be expected of the freaking servants of Grima, but it can be associated with primal force- An ability similar to Dolce's dragonheart that allows him to keep his entire beast stone boost regardless of form."_

I arrived in the fray, with Anna, Crimson, Derek, and Donnel.

"It seems the cavalry is coming in, I should finish my job soon." Conner said as his form began to shift. His claws grew longer, his skin paled, his ears elongated, and his eyes became a crimson red.

"_That's inner beast- This guy's trump, also similar to Dolce's. It magnifies his beast stone's boost by three, but afterwards he loses access to the boost and suffers a stat decrease for a short time."_

Conner rushed at Frederick, sinking his claws into the great knight's stomach. He pulled them out and flicked the blood off.

"My job is done, now I take my leave." Conner said before turning away.

"Wait!" Brutus said angrily"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you come here and then leave like that? What's the point?"

"To make a demonstration" Conner stated, "of what happens when one crosses the grimleal."

Conner snapped his fingers, causing risen to appear. He turned away, changing into the form of a massive albino rabbit, before leaving.

XXXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

"The good news is that Frederick will survive. The bad news is that he will no longer be able to fight on the frontlines." Lissa said with a sorrowful tone.

"What? Why not?" I asked incredulously.

"There is only so much healing magic can do, and it leaves lasting effects on the patient. Frederick was younger than Ricken the first time he saw war, he's been healed more times than any of us can count. Any more healing might just kill him. Chrom said it should still be fine for him to train the recruits."

"At least he will still get the chance to help Ylisse, that is the most important thing to him. C-can I see him?"

"Well, he's not exactly in good shape, but I think he needs you there with him" Lissa said nervously.

I immediately barged into my mentor's room.

"Hello, Brutus. I'm sure you heard the news?" Frederick said as if he were having an everyday conversation.

"How the hell can you be so calm?" I said in an acidic tone.

"Because I know that I have others to carry on in my footsteps. I've taught you everything there is to learn from me. Sully, Stahl, and Kellam also show a lot of potential as well. You all were going to pass me up before long either way, it's probably better that I stay behind and give the trainees the push I need. There is one thing I need to ask of you, however."

"Yes teacher?"

Frederick pulled out a silver chain with the symbol of a spear and a sword crossing.

"This is the mark of house Wary, and I want you to bear it. My family boasts descendance from both the houses of Baldur and Noba. I cannot grant you with the blood of our family, but as far as I'm concerned, you are my younger brother."

For some strange reason, my body began to glow.

"_It seems that the dragons agree. You now have major Baldur and Noba blood running through your veins."_

But how is that even possible?

"_There is a form of backup system the dragons had planned. If a member of a house adopts a new member to the family, the dragon aligned with it can choose to give the person the house's powers. They can also do this in the case that there are no living descendants of the house. This rule, however, does not apply to earth dragons , unless by some form of complex ritual. You might even be able to wield Gae bolg now, or pass it and Tyrfing on to your descendants."_

Gae Bolg, as in the cursed lance?

"_That was simply a result of a spat between dragons."_

A spat that caused several deaths?

"_Point taken."_

"This," Frederick said, pulling me back to my senses, "could it be? The rite of passage? If so, then you truly are a member of house Wary. I have something to show you when we arrive at Ylisstol."

XXXXXXXXX

Frederick and I were standing in the middle of a strange room. On one wall was a spear with an ornate head and a leather cord attached to the shaft. On the other was an open silver blade with a gold hilt and ruby embedded in the crossguard.

"These are the Gae bolg and the Tyrfing, our family's two greatest treasures. Today we will see if you have the aptitude to wield the Gae bolg." Frederick hands me the spear and pulls out a training dummy made of iron. "If you can wield the spear, then the head will sink into the dummy as if it were made of straw, if you can't it will simply bounce off aimlessly."

I charged towards the dummy and held the spear by the cord. I flung it towards the dummy, and it sank in. With a flick of my wrist, I brought It spiraling back into my hand.

"What do you think?" I asked my former teacher.

"Well, you certainly are able to wield the spear. I'm proud of you, I was never able to own up to my Noba blood, despite my best efforts. I believe that one day you will become a far better warrior than I could ever hope to be."

"Thank you, teacher. It means more to me than you can imagine."

"All I said was the truth. Now I must take my leave, I'm supposed to go and introduce myself to the recruits."

"Try not to be too hard on them, I don't think any of them are ready for the Frederick fitness hour just yet."

Frederick smiled at this "Don't worry, that's not scheduled until the second day." He chuckled and left the room.

You've done so much for me, I thought as I readied my spear for another practice throw. I'll find a way to make things right. I'll hunt that guy down-

I threw the spear and it spiralled behind the dummy. I pulled the cord and brought it into the dummy's back.

-and I'll plunge this spear so deep in him I'll have to cut the damn thing out!

"_That guy said he did this to show what happens when one crosses the grimleal. I'm pretty sure he was talking about naga's servants, so it probably won't be long before we see him again."_

Good, that means I don't have a long wait before I get my revenge. I swear I'll shove this thing in him so deep I'll have to cut the damn thing out.

XXXXXXXX

? pov

I felt a fireball whiz by me, singing some of my hair as it flew by.

"_Incoming."_

You could have warned me before the explosion, you know?

"_Sorry man, I'm on break."_

What break time? If I burn, you go down too!

"_Logic is not a very good weapon against me, dumbass."_

Oh hey, there's another fireball.

"_Look out"_

Vete al infierno

"_If I burn, you go down too, right?"_

Callate!

"_Don't hate the character, hate the writer!"_

Why is it that I expect weird statements like this?

"_Ah, I see you're finally getting used to me."_

I wish I had some music to drown you out.

"_This'll be the day we've waited for! This'll be the day we open up the door!"_

Do you have any idea how terrible that sounds in our voice

"_Shut up! We have the voice of an angel!"_

Yeah, an angel with more than a few screws loose.

The mage we had been fighting leapt down from the roof to land in front of me.

"You're **Blaze Fenix**, leader of the bloodrose legion, correct."

"Wouldn't you just love to know." I said as I brought my spear up and struck, tearing straight through the mage's robes.

Ugh, I hate fighting.

"_Nah, pretty sure you love it."_

And how do you know this?

"_Well first of: I'm you, second: you're the leader of the largest mercenary group in all of Rosanne!"_

You strike a fine point, Ace. Now, let's see if there are any others around here.

"_I miss home soo much! My Vita, my Ipod, my laptop! *sob*"_

What are you doing?

"_I'm making you homesick since I have nothing better to do."_

Well, could you keep it down? I'm trying to see the future and I need to focus to do that!

Now let's see, there will be two more, a myrmidon and an archer. It also seems I'll have some backup coming.

As my premonition ended, I was faced with said enemies bursting through the door. Damn waiting periods!

I saw an axe tear through the archer as I launched a ball of fire that incinerated the myrmidon.

I saw a flash of pink and instantly recognized Cherche, who was accompanying us for the time being.

"Are you okay, Blaze?"

I looked at my reflection on one of the bar's cabinets. "Let's see, hair still silver? Check. Two hazel eyes? Check. Still 6'9? Another check. Still wearing helmetless dark knight armor? I think I'm good."

"You should take these things more seriously! What if you got hurt or something?" She asked as she walked closer, making me painfully aware of how little her wyvern rider armor actually covered.

"I would be fine either way, wounds are part of the job." I said calmly.

"Virion will need you at full strength when we go to Plegia. If your prediction was right, then there is a war coming and he'll be in the middle of it!" Oh, right. It was the duke she was worrying about, not me.

"We should head out. Don't worry about these things. We'll run into a lot of battles, but that's something you get used to quick in my line of work. We can take what they throw at us, we're not an army of helpless clerics, after all."

It was true, I had grown used to these things in the months I had spent in Rosanne. I used to live a normal life, but that was all gone now. The last thing I remember was preparing to move to California. Who would've thought that I would end up moving to a whole new world.

_"Quit getting caught up in the past. What you lost isn't coming back. This world needs your help or it'll go to shit. We may be stuck here but we're not without purpose."_

That was actually pretty wise of you, Ace.

_"Now let's go to Narnia! I mean Plegia."_

Couldn't expect you to stay calm long, huh?

_"Nope."_

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**First off, Martain was made by X-Ray99 and Blaze by Aceplayer22. Blaze isn't going to make an appearance in the story for a while, so I gave him a quick intro. The attempt on Emmeryn's life will take place a couple of months later in story, so there will be a short timeskip. Also, apparently dragons can adopt, who would've known? Also, as the title said, Frederick's retired!**

**Please leave a review! See you next time!**


	9. interlude

**Review answer corner!**

**Pyrojack: Yep, I got excited when Ace recommended the RWBY reference. He actually gave me a skeleton for Blaze's introduction, as well as a few others.**

**Ace:I still haven't found an emulator or ROM I can play FE4 on yet, but it's not exceedingly difficult to research what I need. Avert your eyes from the armor! And yes, Narnia!**

**Cormag:Yes, Freddybear! You watch RWBY? Hell yeah! And I actually assumed it would be 'ir' and used Spanish to English. Had I not been an idiot it would have shown me the correct usage.**

**X-ray 99: And here you see what Grima's servants can do. The ones we haven't seen yet are also around that level.**

**Disclaimer: I am not nearly rich enough to own any part of Fire Emblem, Nintendo, or Atlus, who assisted in the making of Awakening.**

**XXXXXXXX**

?pov

I was sitting down to a nice, mediocre meal at a run down bar near Plegia, just minding my own business when-

"It's the risen!"

"Run for your lives!"

"There's nowhere to run to! Take cover wherever it's possible!"

I heaved a great sigh. Really? Couldn't I get one damn day without the need to fight the walking dead? I stood up from my stool.

"Sir? Where are you going? You should stay in here where it's safe!"

I just kept walking out the door.

"Sir, no normal man can take those things on!"

What made him think I was normal. I had freaking silver hair, which I kept in a ponytail, and yellow eyes, a result of a horrible experiment. I was seven feet tall, and wore a dark blue cloak with a blood red cowl , which should be enough to make any man look sketchy. I had hard leather brown pants and gauntlets that were obviously used for armor. On top of all that I had two scabbards on my back, which held my sword and dagger, a bag full of throwing knives, a tome pouch, and a third sack of my 'materials. All in all, I looked pretty damn deadly.

"Don't worry, I'm anything but normal." I said as I walked towards the entrance of town. It shouldn't be too bad. I was a monster hunter, and risen were a form of monster after all.

Let's see, I put a trip wire here, a few mines, blow darts, gravity sigils, and of course a log ram, every trap needs one of those. Okay, all set up

A couple of the risen were taken out by the mines, corpses couldn't take fire very well. Two more were trapped by the sigils, unable to move. I charged towards them and sliced through both with my blade.

"Pathetic."

Another risen hit the trip wire and was hit by a barrage of darts. I threw a knife at its head, almost feeling sorry for the creature.

The log trap was activated by a myrmidon who managed to leap out of the way. I threw a fireball, burning the thing to ash.

I felt an arrow whiz by me, narrowly missing my ear. I raised my hand, preparing one of my favorite spells, blizzard. The risen was encased in a block of ice for a moment before it shattered into pieces.

"Wow, I've gotten worse wounds playing rock-paper-scissors!" Granted, we played rock-paper-death, where whoever won was allowed to hit the loser with their object. We used sandpaper so that there was actually a reason to choose paper.

I walked back into the village to cheers and applause.

"You saved us! How can we repay you?" One man asked.

"Four thousand." I replied.

"What was that sir?" The man asked, confused.

"Four thousand gold."

"B-but we can't give you that much, we'll starve!"

"Don't care, give me the gold."

"Please have mercy on us, sir" A girl said, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"Fine, how much would the meal from earlier cost?"

"About 400, sir."

"I'll take it for free." I said

"Thank you, milord."

I blushed lightly as I walked back to finish my now-cold meal.

"Hey, **Geralt**." I heard a voice from behind me. I turned and saw a girl wearing a white cloak with the hood pulled over her face. She had bright blue eyes and long black hair. There were scars marking her face and hands.

"Hey, **Christian**, I didn't expect to see you here." I smiled slightly.

"Can I come with you, by any chance?" She said nervously.

"I fly solo, besides, all you'll find with me is mercenary work."

"P-p-please? I'm scared to be alone again! There are slavers out there just waiting for a manakete like me! It'll be just like when I lost mom." The girl was trembling, tears forming in her eyes. If I remember correctly, she had some rather rough encounters with slavers back in the other timeline.

I wrapped my arms around her in an awkward attempt to comfort her. "It's okay, I won't let anything like that happen to you again."

"So you'll take me with you?"

"Yes, if it means you won't cry like that anymore."

"Okay, I'll do my best to stay strong." She said nervously.

"That's all I can ask, let's go."

XXXXXXXXX

_?pov_

Ugh, what am I gonna do with him? Oh well, maybe one of the people in this bar know where he is.

"Excuse me sir, have you seen my pet?" I asked the bartender.

"Well what do we have here? A little beauty's graced us with her presence." The men in the bar started to gather around us.

Ugh, I can't stand people like this. My pink hair and green eyes cause me to stand out. In addition to that, my outfit- consisting of: a white shirt and pink vest, brown leather pants and gloves, and two pendants, one inscribed with a wolf and the other with a wyvern- made me look innocent. They probably thought I looked like a perfect target.

"Thank you." Best to play along, that way they'll underestimate you.

"You said your pet is missing?" One of them asked.

"Yes mister, he's black with the brightest blue eyes and is adorable. He responds to Dandelion, like the flower." I said in the sweetest voice possible, which wasn't that difficult since I was usually a very cheerful person.

"If you've lost your puppy, you should come with us. We'll help you find him."

"Yeah, that's a good idea" One of them agreed.

"I can't ask that much of you all."

"Don't worry about it, a girl like you shouldn't be walking the streets alone."

"Why thank you, then."

"How about we play a game while we look for your pet?" Here it comes.

"I love games! What kind of game will we be playing?"

"One that involves getting physical." One of the men walked towards me with a hand out stretched.

"Oh that kind of game." I said as I quickly brought a knife into his neck. "Daddy said I'm too young for those games." I giggled as a man ran towards me.

"Come at me," I said as I jumped over his shoulder, grabbed his arm, and yanked hard with a loud crack. "and you'll see, I'm more than meets the eye." I ducked under them and pulled out a meat cleaver.

Suddenly the floor started to rumble and a black wyvern came rushing out.

"Oh hey darling! Where have you been? I was worried about you!" Dandelion let out a loud growl at this.

"Oh, these guys! They're dinner, eat while they're nice and fresh!" The men ran away screaming at this.

"Tell your little friends to fear the name **Ciri**!" I yelled at them.

"That should teach them not to mess with people on the streets. I guess that takes care of the bandit problem, we should go see the mayor."

XXXXXX

As I walked down the streets, I heard an interesting exchange.

"Have you heard of the cardinal of the forest?"

"No, who is he?"

"They say he's a priest who teaches the ways of Naga behind Gangrel's back!"

"That's ridiculous! the grimleal would have caught someone like that!"

"They say that only one who comes in peace may traverse the woods. Risen are the closest things to soldiers anyone ever sees down there. The also say he has an assassin and a thief who guard the chapel."

"There's no way anything like that could be true! Such thinking is simply implausible!"

"I've met no less than three people who speak of the miracles that man performs. Each one of them was a devout grimleal and now they spout the teachings of Naga. They even say the cardinal has somehow learned the forgotten art: light magic."

"Where does the man live? I'd sure like to see what all the fuss is about!."

"They say he lives in the forest of souls, north of the capitol."

There is only one person who fit that description, and it was just like him to do something like teach the way of Naga right behind the capitol of Plegia.

XXXXXXXXX

I walked through the forest, finding what seemed to be a.. small hidden village? There was a small congregation surrounding a preacher. The man had short, blonde hair and wore a long blue robe that had the mark of naga emblazoned on the front. He had bright green eyes, and a thick scar running down the right side of his face. While the others couldn't see it, I knew that .he had the brand of Naga on his back. The man's name was **Julius**.

"That will be all for today's sermon, if you would like to join us in the clergy, you are welcome to stay in the village for lessons. Otherwise, I will see you all when you can make the trip again. Also, **Syrenne**, would you please give that man his bullion back?"

A girl wearing a battered black cloak walked up to one of the men. She had dark red hair that went down to her shoulders, something that was usually considered a Plegian trait, but that was questionable. She looked to be a year or two older than me.

"I'm sorry sir, it's an old habit of mine." She said seeming embarrassed, although her eyes said something different.

"It's quite alright, young lady." The man said, and with that he left. Soon all that was left were the church staff.

As I walked into the village, Julius greeted me. "Why, if it isn't Ciri. How have you fared?"

"Do you know this girl sir?" One of the priests-in-training asked.

"Yes, she is a good friend of mine. She is a good girl, although I would advise you not to get on her bad side . May we have some time to ourselves, perhaps?" He replied in a well mannered tone.

"Yes sir!" And with that it was down to me, Julius, Syrenne, and a girl wearing an assassin's uniform.

Julius noticed that I was staring at the others. "Oh right, I don't believe that you all have been acquainted. This is Syrenne." He pointed to the thief from earlier. "And this is her older sister, **Silver**." He pointed at the assassin. She stood at about the same height as the thief and had similar hair, albeit a little lighter. She had a black headband that hung to a little less than shoulder length, despite being tightly secured.

"I don't deserve to call herself my sister after what I've done. By Marth's blue hair the girl doesn't even remember me due to the shock."

"It's okay Silver, we can make new memories!"Syrenne responded.

"But I left you for dead! I should have taken you with me!"

"Do you honestly think it would have been better if I was an assassin? I was safer as a thief!"

"But-"

"No buts, Silver, I forgive you." Syrenne hugged Silver tightly, refusing to let go until she conceded defeat."

"So.. how do you all know each other?" I asked.

"Well," Julius began "We had no idea about Syrenne, their parents avoided talking about anything personal in their messages lest the grimleal find the letters and hunt Syrenne and Silver down. Silver, has become a friend of mine since we gave her jobs occasionally. Soren, as well as my fellow members of the royal family met her as well."

"So you already know Lucina then?" I said, turning to Silver.

"We don't mention Lucina." I'll take that as a yes.

"Those two don't get along very well. I told Silver about our plans to come back to the past despite Lucina's protests."

"Lucina was against extra help?"

"They really don't get along."

"I don't see what's so bad about her, she seemed pretty nice to me." Syrenne said.

"You don't know her, Syrenne. You don't know her."

XXXXXXXXXXX

We walked along the encampment, heading to Julius's home.

"So, how do you keep the grimleal out?"

"We have special confusion wards set up, they actually detect whether any dark magic runs through an intruder. All grimleal extremists have a little bit of dark energy due to excessive communion with an earth combined with the woods basically traps them in an endless maze. Even if one were to come here, the ley lines of this area dampen dark magic and amplify light. That is with the exception of the training area, which dampens all magic."

"And in addition to that, I'm pretty damn good with a bow."Silver said.

"And I know my way around a sword and dagger!" Syrenne chimed in.

"Wow! You really thought everything through, huh?" I said.

"Well, this village was first built by bishops from jugdral, then improved by immigrants from Tellius. All I did was use a restoration staff and prepare the wards."

"By the way, they said you performed miracles here. Is that true?"

"No, I may be a cardinal bishop but I'm not a miracle worker. It's just that this place magnifies my healing magic. There's also the fact that Plegia doesn't have a large healing corps so they don't have much to compare it to."

We made our way into Julius's house. The shelves there were covered in scriptures and tomes. There were also staves sprawled out everywhere. The most noticeable items were the book of Naga, Morningstar, which was Julius's personal tome that he created alongside his father, and another tome which was written in another language. Maybe it was from Tellius?

Out of the corner of my eye I saw silver holding a bowl and drinking from it.

"Hey! I need that for communion you know!" Julius shouted, enraged.

"Oh lighten up, I don't think I've ever seen you drink."

"In my family, we only ever drink to celebrate." Julius's eyes darkened, as if he were remembering something he wished he could forget.

Then he perked up, pulling out a glass. "Well, we have a new member among our number. I guess that counts for something."

"Hey, get me a glass!" Syrenne and I shouted simultaneously.

"Syrenne, you're sixteen. Ciri, you're fourteen. You need to wait a few more years."

"Lishen, to hiiim *hic* he'th gof a poinf!" Silver slurred.

"Ugh, I guess this party's over." Julius said. "I'll show you to your house, Ciri. Then I'll take Silver to her place." He began walking out of the house.

"What am I going to do with you?" I heard him grumble at Silver.

XXXXXXXX

_Kira pov_

As I walked around the castle, I saw a rather lecherous looking man speaking to Emmeryn.

"Milady,would you have any time to spare on a man such as myself?" Look at her eyes, not her chest, dumbass. Emmeryn looked as if she didn't want to be within a kilometer of the man, but didn't have the heart to send him away.

I heaved a sigh, she was too kind for her own good sometimes. I shadow traveled in front of the man- a skill I had mastered in the time that had passed since the war began- placing my sword about an inch away from his throat.

"Who the hell are you?" The man asked me.

"I'm her bodyguard." I said in a matter of fact tone, as if this were simply a casual conversation.

"I doubt one as elegant as Emmeryn would entrust her life with a rapscallion such as yourself!"

"Would you like to test my worth?" I activated an ability called gathering clouds, channeling wind along my blade. I learned the skill about a week or two ago while defending the border from a company of Plegians. I was using a basic wind tome to avoid doing too much damage.

Blood trickled lightly down the man's throat and his face took on a shocked expression. "I think I'll pass on that." The man bolted out of the castle as if he had a troop of pegasus knights hunting him down.

"Did you really have to threaten him, Kira?" Emmeryn asked with a worried expression.

"Sometimes it's the only way. There is also the fact that people like that piss me off."

Emmeryn smacked me lightly on the back of the head. "How many times have I told you about using foul language in the castle?"

"Fine, I get it. Hey, would you like to go for a stroll around the city? I actually have a day off for once." The past month or so was extremely taxing. My days were made up of training with Brutus- this consisted of Martin, Dolce, Derek, and I having to fend off Crimson while she was using her trump. it wasn't exactly fun- Sparring matches with Brutus, Chrom, Khrow, and Robin, and helping Frederick train the recruits. I was an assistant trainer for the speed units and mage corps, and I was also brought in to help the more sluggish units learn to fight swifter units. In addition to all of this, there were also risen hordes and border attacks to deal with. All things considered, my bodyguard duty was practically a coffee break.

"Yes, that would be alright." Emmeryn grasped my hand and I froze slightly.

"I wouldn't want to be separated from my bodyguard in the midst of the huge crowd, now would I?" Emmryn said and we walked out into the street.

XXXXXXXXXX

We walked by a small jewelry shop, where I saw Stahl. Why was he in there?

"Hey Em, can we head in there?" I pointed at Stahl and she nodded.

I walked up behind Stahl. "I didn't think you were the type to enjoy jewelry, Stahl. What are you looking for?"

"Who is- oh, hey Kira. Are you here to buy something for Emmeryn?" I felt my cheeks heat up at this.

Emmeryn laughed at this. "No, we were actually wondering why you were here. Buying a ring for a special someone, perhaps?"

Stahl raised his hands up. "You caught me."

"It's for Sully, right?" I asked. While the two weren't necessarily together, they did seem rather close.

"Yeah. Was it that obvious?"

"Not really, you two just seemed close. What about this one? It's petty, but not so much that Sully would find it too feminine."

"Yep, that's the one!" Stahl said. "I'm not going to ask how you knew that, Kira,but thank you. Have fun on your date guys!

"It's not a date, Stahl!" I said angrily.

"He's right, it's just an excursion." Not helping, Em.

We left the store and began looking for another place to visit. On the way, we saw Lon'qu being dragged along by Lissa, who was hugging his arm rather tightly.

"Hey Kira! I don't think Chrom wants any in-laws anytime soon!" Lon'qu said in a tone that almost concealed his teasing.

"Says the guy hanging around his little sister. I see Lissa's helped you to get rid of your girl issues." The two of us were on pretty friendly terms, since we were both roped into helping Frederick with the recruits.

"Hey, let's all go together!" Lissa said cheerfully.

"How about we go over there?" Emmeryn pointed at a stall that Anna and Derek were setting up.

"No! last time they tricked me into paying triple for a tactics book!" I bellowed.

"That was only because you're gullible." Lon'qu deadpanned.

"No I'm not!"

"What about the time you gave one of your best shirts to a beggar on the street who turned out to be a wealthy merchant?" Lissa began.

"Or the time you donated a bullion to the 'Save the Taguel' foundation? Until Conner showed up, I thought they were extinct!" Lon'qu continued.

"Or the time you unwittingly helped Crimson raid the pantry for sweets?" Emmeryn landed the finishing blow.

"Fine, fine, I get it." I conceded defeat.

Everyone laughed, and joined in.

"How about the cafe that opened up last week?" Emmeryn suggested. No one had any objections, so we headed in.

If only every day could be calm like that.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

**Welp, I got a lot of the introductions out of the way but other than that I didn't really do jack. The next big action scene will either begin at the end of the next chapter or the start of the one after that. **

**Until then, see you guys later.**


	10. Interlude pt2

**Review answer corner:**

**Ace: Yep, Geralt has a lady for his journey. And he definitely won't stutter randomly during their conversations. *Gives Ciri a shot* Ciri: Hey, thish ishn't that shtrung*collapses***

**Pyrojack:Yep, he even hails from Rivia. That is one of Geralt's skills, it gives him a trap command, similar to rally, lockpick, steal, or dance.**

**Cormag:Out of the main characters, I'd have to say Ruby, if only because she's the main character. (Otherwise, it would be a tie between her, Blake, and Weiss). As for my favorite overall, it's a tie between Lie Ren and Sun Wukong. Not certain about the rest because I only have two(maybe three) of the 2nd gen supports set in stone. When I thought of the subplot, I immediately wanted to put those two in there.**

**To all: All aboard the S.S Kimmeryn, with your captain, Ace, your first mate, Cormag, and your navigator, Pyrojack. I will be your tour guide on this wondrous journey!**

**Disclaimer: I own neither Nintendo nor the glorious Atlus, the kings of Jrpgs.**

**XXXXXXXX**

_Kira pov_

For the recruits, today was an extremely stressful day. It was the day that they would face the first set of examinations. Any who failed would have to repeat the curriculum of the past month, while the top student in each classification would be allowed to skip over the next month. For the instructors, it was rather boring because at least four of the top students were obvious choices.

A blur of black and orange flew by as a myrmidon flew by. Simply from the speed, I could tell It was **Kyouko**, who was easily the most skilled of the myrmidons. She had long black hair and gray eyes that sometimes made it hard to read her emotions. If I remember correctly, she was the daughter of a swordmaster from Chon'sin and an Assassin who had been sent to train with their military.

She made her way swiftly past the obstacles and to the ring of automated training dummies and pulled out her daito and shoto. The first two came towards her, a fighter and a knight. The she slid easily past the fighter's movements, using the opening its axe swing caused to get in a quick strike to the neck. The knight made an overhead strike that she parried with her daito, a rather unorthodox choice as that was supposed to be her primary took her shoto and sunk the blade into its chestplate.

Next, a myrmidon came charging, the real test. She used a cross block to defend against the first strike, then made a strike with her daito, only to be blocked. As the next attack came, she flipped her shoto into a knife fighting position and used it to hook the blade down. She quickly struck at the mymidon's shoulder pad, then flipped around to strike the other and coming around one last time to split the dummy in half.

"_Ah, going for a flashy finish, I knew there was a reason we liked her. I guess you could say she's a super trainee level myrmidon, eh?"_

Don't even try to make that reference.

I saw Lon'qu smirk at the last move. We had taught them that technique, which was a prerequisite for astra, a few days ago in class. We hadn't expected any of them to master the technique for at least another month.

It seemed that Kyouko had already taken her place at the top of her class, and was going to skip a month of training.

XXXXXXXXXXX

The other exams went on in a similar manner, and none of the recruits actually failed the test. I was now with Lon'qu, Robin, Khrow, Derek, Crimson, and Vaike preparing to give a special surprise to some of the recruits. In addition to Kyouko, there was **Marcus**, a mercenary with light brown hair and green eyes. He was the son of one of the conscripts from the last war who had managed to go from a regular soldier to a hero. He was a free spirit who lived every day as if it would be his last, a very good frame of mind to have in our occupation. Despite his carefree nature, he was very determined and put every possible effort into his attempts to become stronger. Judging from some of his actions, it seemed that he was also determined to win Kyouko's heart, as he would occasionally do dangerous things in an attempt to impress her. Kyouko's cold nature made it difficult to tell whether these attempts actually made it across.

There was also **Aelia**, a fighter who hailed from the slums of Ylisse. She had shoulder length blond hair and sapphire blue eyes. Many of the male recruits took a fancy to her and attempted to flirt with her, although many of them lost their teeth as Aelia bashed their faces in. She had the most physical strength of any of the recruits.

Finally, there was **Agrona**, who despite being classed as a mage was being trained to become a tactician by both Robin and Khrow. She had long, auburn hair reaching halfway down her back and cold onyx eyes. She had lived on a border village with her parents, a sage and a dark knight, until a group of brigands came and razed the entire settlement. She knew the horrors of war better than any recruits, but rather than being intimidated, the experience tempered the fire of her heart. She wasn't very skilled combat wise, but she had a sharper mind than many of our nation's elite mages.

The other teachers and I pulled out sheaths that we had hidden under our armor. Each of these students had brought weapons that once belonged to his or her parents, but they had to put them into the armory when they came here. With permission and some financial aid from Emmeryn, we had the weapons reforged to become unbreakable. I pulled out a daito while Lon'qu pulled shoto and we gave them to Kyouko. These were the blades that had belonged to her mother during her time as a swordmaster. The blades were named jinsei and shine, because the shoto was used to safeguard the life of the wielder while the daito was used to bring death upon the opponent. The shoto was made of flexible alloys that allowed for easier parries while the daito was light and sharp as a razor.

Derek pulled out a buckler while Crimson fished out a gladius, and they granted them to Marcus. The buckles was called the behemoth and the blade was dubbed the iron fang. As he was now, there was nothing special he could do with the equipment, but according to the twin tacticians he would eventually be able to use aegis and pavise with the buckler and the sword could be used in the same manner as a brave blade.

Vaike bestowed Aelia with a tomahawk named piercer, which had been a weapon her father used to fend off bandits. It moved at a swift speed and could easily rip through the enemy's defenses.

Khrow pulled out a white blade while Robin held a fire tome. The blade was Lethes, a powerful weapon that her mother bore in battle. It's might was equal to a silver blade. The tome was called Inti, and burned like a dying blaze and had the durability of an average fire tome.

I saw a figure wearing knight armor walking up to our group. As he grew closer I could tell that it was **Cassius**, Brutus' lieutenant. The man had short silver hair and pale violet eyes. The man was very skilled, and there was talk of him becoming captain now that Brutus was in the shepherds. Despite this, he preferred to focus on others rather than himself. This did not mean that he was any form of pushover. According to Brutus, the man one beat the living shit out of another soldier who implied that he didn't deserve his post. Consequently, no one ever questioned the lieutenant's orders.

"I saw some of the exams, you all were much better than what was to be expected of you. You all may just rise through the ranks in the future."

Frederick walked up "I would prefer you not congratulate my students too much, Cassius. I prefer their egos at their current sizes."

We all laughed, and celebrated with them a little more before we left for the castle.

XXXXXXX

_Brutus pov_

Cordelia charged at me on her pegasus. I brought my spear up, barely managing to parry the attack.

Cordelia's troop had rotated with another troop for the week, and this was her last day before she went back to the post. I was taking advantage of her time here to get some practice against a flying unit.

Her blows were merciless and swift. It was extremely difficult for me to keep up with her mount. I dodged another of her strikes and attempted to counter, only for my training spear to meet empty air.

Before I had time to recover, the shaft of her spear met with my face. I fell to the ground, dropping my weapon as I went.

Cordelia walked up to me, holding out her hand. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. That was rather refreshing, actually."

"What do you mean by that?"

"It's not very often that I get the chance to spar with someone of your talent. Those that can keep up with me usually have their own tasks to attend to. When I first started, pretty much anyone could beat me in a sparring match. I would often lose to Stahl, Sully, even Kellam. In the last year or two before we got all these new shepherds, Frederick and Chrom had become the only opponents I ever lost to."

"So you missed losing?"

"Yes, it takes a loss for one to realize just how much they can improve. Now, I have plenty of opponents to test my strength against." I gave a small smile.

"And what if you run out of opponents?"

"Then the only thing standing in my way will be myself."

"If I remember correctly, I've heard rumors of you having powers no other can replicate. Where was that in our match?"

"You'd like to go again then? I could use the practice, the only other experience I've had with fliers has been against a few amateur wyvern riders."

"Let's begin then." Cordelia said as she brandished her practice lance.

This time I knew what to expect. I rolled out of the way of her charge, then parried the upcoming barrage. I leapt at her, using my trump as I struck her lance.

Her lance snapped in half and Cordelia was knocked towards the ground. She skidded but held her stance, brandishing her broken weapon as if the fragments were a pair of blades. She leapt at me in an overhead strike, but she was much too slow on foot. I sp4n ma spear around, disarming her before placing the tip at her throat.

"Looks like I win this time." I said with a smirk.

"I still have a long way to go." Cordelia said, looking disheartened.

"Don't worry, I have been doing this since I could lift my weapon. You have only been training for a year. The fact that you were even able to keep up with me is a testament to your talent."

Well, there was Kira, as well as the other envoys, but that was beside the point. Being blessed be Naga tended to give a person an edge over others.

"I keep forgetting how long you have been doing this. I honestly should know that, since you used to always stop by and help the recruits with their form. I remember that you spent hours nagging Sumia over every small detail." Cordelia laughed at the memory.

"She still doesn't keep her stance wide enough." I grumbled "But I guess that doesn't matter much, since she isn't a footsoldier."

"Did you know about her and Chrom? She just told me a few days ago." Cordelia asked.

"Yeah, I told Chrom he needed to go ahead and propose before it was too late." I nodded.

Cordelia's face took on a sad tone. "Oh."

"Why? What's wrong?" I grew worried.

"Well, you see…" She mustered her strength, trying to finish her sentence "I had feelings for him."

Oh that was the problem, I could understand "If it's any consolation, the girl I cared for got engaged recently."

"Who is it? I didn't realize you were even looking for someone."

"It was princess Lissa." I sighed.

"Oh, sorry about that. I kind of helped Lon'qu pick out the ring last time I was on break." She laughed nervously.

I chuckled at this. "So we both screwed each other over, huh?"

Cordelia laughed "I guess so."

"You know, whenever I helped with your training and Chrom walked by, a lot of the male recruits would start talking about how they wished you would look at one of them. I know what they meant now." I chuckled.

"And whenever Lissa came by, I heard the other girls saying the same about you. That makes a lot more sense now."

"Hey, do you know where any good bars are?"

"Yeah, there's one that my squad drags me to a couple of blocks out, why?"

"Come with me. It's your last day of break before you have to spend another week and a half at the border. I'll pay for your drinks, since it's your break and I helped mess up your chances with Chrom. I think now's as good a time as any to go wind down some."

"I try not to drink, since it dulls the senses, but I think I'll take you up on your offer." She smiled lightly and walked ahead of me. "I'll show you the way."

XXXXXXXX

_Three days later_

_Kira pov_

Today marked two months since the beginning of the war. So far everything was going just fine, but that only served to put me even more on edge. On top of that, today was the two millenia celebration of Marth's victory against Medeus. Today seemed like an apt choice for Validar's attack.

"_Relax, Kira. Yes, the attack will probably be today, but it'll be fine. We have a guard set up ready at Emmeryn's chambers, as well as vanguards for Chrom and Lissa, and various guard posts full of shepherds all around the castle. If anything comes we'll be ready. Now you just go and enjoy your holiday built around Naga's previous triumphs."_

You're probably right. We have Khrow and Robin guarding Chrom and Lissa is being guarded by Brutus and Lon'qu. Martin, Kellam, Dolce, and I are guarding Emmeryn. We also have Derek, Crimson, and Anna set up at the front of the castle, and the other shepherds prepared to rouse the soldiers in the barracks. I was the one who suggested the plan to Robin, so I know the layout better than anyone. Sadly, none of that helped to ease my nerves.

I saw Khrow walk nearby. "Khrow! What's up? I barely see you these days!"

"I was there giving the recruits gifts three days ago, I sparred with you last week, and I have been reporting for escort duty with Robin every day."

"And those are pretty much the only times you've left the dungeon recently. I'm honestly shocked you aren't as pale as a risen by now. Don't any of your tactics books tell you not to sleep with the enemy?"

"I was not sleeping with the enemy! I was interrogating her!"

"Yeah, 'interrogating' her. I guess that's what they call it these days."

Robin walked up, along with Emmeryn. "Brother! You're back! I was starting to think your girlfriend killed you!"

"Good to see you're back up with the living." Emmeryn said with a faint smile.

"Guys I came up here to have a good time and honestly I feel so attacked right now." Khrow said in a mock whimper.

I burst out laughing at this, and everyone gave me weird looks. "It's nothing, guys. It's nothing." I doubled over again from the laughter and they all began to worry. I stood back up "I'm okay guys." Then I began laughing for a third time. I finally recovered. "Okay, I'm fine now. Khrow was the last person I expected to say something like that."

"Okay…" Robin said, trying to comprehend why I found that so hilarious.

"Oh, that was a popular saying people used in jokes back home." I waved her off.

Emmeryn walked up to me "Hello Kira, would you be fine if I introduced you to a friend of mine?"

"Sure."

I walked along with her, being guided over to … Libra? I wonder why she wanted me to speak to him.

Libra was speaking to Dolce. I wasn't sure whether to be surprised they knew each other. The two both often went around helping the less fortunate, but the city was large enough that it was unlikely for them to run into each other in the slums. Well, I did often run into other shepherds in the streets so I guess it made sense.

"Kira, I'd like you to meet-" Emmeryn began.

"Why hello Kira, pleasure meeting you here. I apologize for the interruption, lady exalt." Libra said.

"Hey Libra, it's nice to see you outside of the infirmary for once." I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Emmeryn asked.

"How did that happen?" Dolce added in.

"Well, between Brutus' training, Frederick's fitness hour, and my sparring matches, I get injured pretty often."

"So I've gotten some pretty good practice with my staff because of him." That was an understatement, the guy must have gained a staff level just from me.

"Well, I brought you here because Libra is also interested in your idea." Emmeryn said.

"Wait, he wants to help re-engineer light magic?" I asked, incredulous. This was a great chance, I needed to know the stylistic similarities for at least two promoted staff users. Base class users wouldn't work because they differences would be too small to separate from the similarities. Falcon knights also didn't work for the same reason, as they don't learn to use a staff until they promote.

I asked Libra every question I could think of, fervently taking notes. I walked back towards Emmeryn, satisfied. With my notes on healing and anima magic, all I needed was a dark mage user to interview and I would have a proper foundation for my research.

"Did you get what you needed?" Emmeryn asked me.

"Yes, I'm on the right track. A little more and I'll be able to actually begin my studies."

"That's good to know, let's go enjoy the festivities, shall we?" The music began to shift, becoming a waltz.

I felt heat rising to my cheeks as I held out my hand. "May I have this dance, Emmeryn?"

Emmeryn smiled and took my hand "Gladly."

XXXXXXX

_Aquila pov_

We were marching toward Ylisstol, preparing for the attack.

"Okay, we're almost ready to charge in." Validar began "There is one last thing we need to do. Thief, do you remember your part of the plan?"

The thief, Gaius if I remembered correctly, began counting things off. "Yeah, gray. First, I go with little miss doomsday," That was his nickname for Koto. " And I go up through the middle of the castle. Then I take a right and meet up with mister 'Does the carpet match the drapes'," He pointed at me. "Who'll cover for me while I pick the lock and kill Emmeryn."

"Yes, it seems you have something on your mind other than candy. You may prove to be competent yet." Validar continued.

"That's one more thing we need to talk about. You freed me from prison and all, don't get me wrong here I'm grateful, but you didn't give me any candy. You should know my fee after all the research you did when choosing me for the job. Besides that,you call me sugar for brains but you're the one with the awful plan here. They have a castle full of soldiers and what did you bring? Our group is made up of five soldiers and a thief, and you won't even let them summon 's about as smart as trying to steal a sword from a myrmidon." Gaius ranted.

"Don't worry," I said calmly "that's too much firepower in my opinion." I smirked. "This is going to be a wonderful mission. I'll get to meet the shepherds again."

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Well, we got the deuteragonists introduced. They don't have an extreme impact on the story, but they'll appear occasionally. One of them even has a backstory in the other timeline. Next chapter, we'll finally get some progression on the main plot. This is the chapter I've been excited for since before I even got to Ferox!**

**See you all next time! Please leave a review.**


End file.
